The Readventurer
  • Home
  • YA Reviews
  • Adult Reviews
  • Contests and Giveaways
  • Policies
  • About Us
    • Flannery's Challenges
    • Catie's Challenges
  • Contact Us

The Case of the Baker Street Irregular by Robert Newman

1/10/2012

0 Comments

 
Baker Street Irregular Cover
_
The Case of the Baker Street Irregular (Andrew Tillet, Sara Wiggins & Inspector Wyatt #1)
Author: Robert Newman
Publication Date: 1978
Publisher: Aladdin


Blurb (GR):Andrew found London terrifying, especially after his guardian, sour old Mr. Dennison, was mysteriously abducted. Suddenly, Andrew was plunged into a series of bizarre, bombings, blackmail and murder. Then, when he met the incomparable detective Sherlock Holmes, Andrew's plight took a thoroughly remarkable turn...


Review:
Sherlock Holmes is basically a literary superhero to me. Sure his weaknesses are a little more interesting than most but he holds the same appeal to me as comic books do to fanboys. (or girls!) I am just one huge grin at all of the quick conversations, random factoids and asides, and during the eventual wrap-up when the billions of threads get sewn up tightly in a way that only Sherlock Holmes would ever be able to figure. A Goodreads friend sent me a copy of this book because she knows how much I love Sherlock and I’d never read any of the more juvenile stories. How well could the dynamic duo translate to a younger audience? The answer to that question, at least in terms of this book, is two-pronged. Robert Newman was absolutely successful in creating believable dialogue and multiple interwoven mysteries involving a few younger characters. However, I’m still not sure how large of an audience would enjoy a younger-YA/middle grade Victorian multi-layered mystery. My heart hopes that there are quite a few precocious mystery-lovers out there. As an adult, I flew through The Case of the Baker Street Irregular in an hour or two and I’m not at all ashamed to say that I was legitimately surprised at some of the connections. Some other reviews have mentioned the transparency of the mystery but I found it to be entertaining til the last and honestly, I thought it better done than many adult murder mysteries I’ve read in the past.

This series is based on the mention of “Baker Street Irregulars”(221B Baker Street being the address of Holmes’ abode), various local children who would aid Holmes and Watson in their investigations in the original stories. The Case of the Baker Street Irregular opens with Andrew Craigie, a young boy from Cornwall moving into a boarding house with his former tutor who is temporarily his guardian after his aunt passes away. Almost as soon as they arrive, Andrew’s guardian disappears. A prominent lord dies, his son has hallucinations, a woman visits Holmes and Watson to help her find her missing daughter, and someone is trying to fence stolen goods in a store on Baker Street. Are any or all of these things connected? If you’ve read any Holmes at all, you already know the answer to this question. I suppose one of my favorite things about Holmes stories is the multiple storylines. When so much is happening, I forget bits of information and when they come round again later in the story, I have those “A-ha!” moments. I’d much rather have loads of red herrings and random facts tossed out in order to make the eventual unraveling a surprise than removing all that extraneous detail and reading a murder mystery paint-by-number. (which I sometimes feel is what I’m reading)

I totally loved it and if you are a Sherlock fan and are looking for some entertainment without a lot of mental work, I think you’ll find this book an hour or two well spent. The only potential negative about the book was that I thought the author made Holmes a bit too sentimental and empathetic. I enjoy the little glimpses of humanity we get and I understand the reasons that it works in this particular story. For me, it wasn’t really a negative at all. I’m sorry this series wasn’t on my radar as a young girl but I’ll be finishing the series as an adult and that’s just fine with me.

5/5 stars

R
0 Comments

    Archives

    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    November 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011

    Categories

    All
    Abuse
    Addiction
    Angels
    Anthologies
    Audiobooks
    Aussie Ya
    Boarding School
    Bullying
    Cancer
    Catie's Y.a. Reviews
    Catie's Y.A. Reviews
    Christmas
    Contemporary Ya
    Cowboys
    Crime Solving
    Cross-dressing
    Deafness
    Death And Dying
    Depression
    Divorce
    Drugs And Alcohol
    Dystopia
    Dystopian
    Fairy Tales
    Family Issues
    Fantasy
    Favorites
    Friendship
    Frustrating
    Funny
    Geniuses
    Ghosts
    Graphic Novel
    Graph/Pic Review
    High School
    Historical Fiction
    Illness
    Illustrated
    Lgbtq
    Magic
    Middle Grade Fiction
    Music
    Mystery
    Necromancer
    Newbery Medal
    Paranormal
    Parent Issues
    Problems
    Psychiatric Issues
    Published: 1963
    Published: 1978
    Published: 1991
    Published: 1992
    Published: 1994
    Published: 1998
    Published: 1999
    Published: 2000
    Published: 2002
    Published: 2003
    Published: 2004
    Published: 2005
    Published: 2006
    Published: 2007
    Published: 2008
    Published: 2009
    Published: 2010
    Published: 2011
    Published: 2012
    Publisher: Aladdin
    Publisher: Allen & Unwin
    Publisher: Black Dog Books
    Publisher: Blackstone Audio
    Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
    Publisher: Brilliance Audio
    Publisher: Candlewick Press
    Publisher: Candlewick Press
    Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab
    Publisher: David Fickling Books
    Publisher: Delacorte
    Publisher: Delacorte
    Publisher: Del Rey
    Publisher: Dial
    Publisher: Dutton
    Publisher: Farrar Straus And Giroux
    Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
    Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
    Publisher: Feral Dream
    Publisher: First Second
    Publisher: Harlequin
    Publisher: Harper Children's Audio
    Publisher: HarperCollins
    Publisher: HarperTeen
    Publisher: Henry Holt
    Publisher: Hyperion
    Publisher: Katherine Tegan
    Publisher: Knopf
    Publisher: Lee & Low Books
    Publisher: Little Brown
    Publisher: Lothian Books
    Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
    Publisher: Penguin Australia
    Publisher: Point
    Publisher: Puffin
    Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
    Publisher: Scholastic
    Publisher: Simon Pulse
    Publisher: Simon Spotlight
    Publisher: St. Martin
    Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
    Publisher: Subterranean Press
    Publisher: Tor
    Publisher: Viking Australia
    Publisher: Viking Juvenile
    Publisher: Young Picador
    Pusblisher: Arthur A. Levine
    Relationships
    Religion
    Reviewed: 2010
    Reviewed: 2011
    Reviewed: 2012
    Road Trip
    Romance
    Science Fiction
    Setting: Boston
    Setting: California
    Setting: Canada
    Setting: China
    Setting: England
    Setting: Germany
    Setting: Minnesota
    Setting: New Jersey
    Setting: New York
    Setting: Ohio
    Setting: Oregon
    Setting: Paris
    Setting: Pennsylvania
    Setting: Prague
    Setting: Seattle
    Setting: Seattle
    Setting: Turkey
    Setting: Virginia
    Setting: Washington
    Setting: Wyoming
    Sex
    Sexual Abuse
    Short Stories
    Space
    Surfing
    Time Travel
    Unicorns
    Urban Fantasy
    Vampires
    Verse
    War
    Werewolves
    World Building
    Young Adult
    Young Adults
    Zombies

    RSS Feed


Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.