Young Sherlock Holmes (books)
| Death Cloud Red Leech Black Ice Young Sherlock Holmes: Fire Storm Snake Bite, Knife Edge | |
| Author | Andy Lane |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Thriller, Spy fiction |
| Publisher | Macmillan Books (UK) |
| Published | 4 June 2010 – Ongoing |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) Audiobook |
Young Sherlock Holmes is a series of young adult Thriller novels by Andy Lane featuring Arthur Conan Doyle's detective Sherlock Holmes as a teenager in the 1860s that is faced with numerous crimes and adventures throughout the series.
Books in the series
So far there have been six books released in the series, with the sixth book released in October 2013. There could potentially be nine in total.
- Death Cloud (June 2010): Fourteen-year-old Sherlock Holmes is sent to live with his Aunt and Uncle in Hampshire and teams up with Matty Arnatt to investigate two mysterious deaths which appear to be somehow related to a black cloud which Sherlock Holmes has to solve.
- Red Leech, retitled Rebel Fire for the American market, (November 2010): A few months after the events of the first novel, Holmes investigates the possibility that John Wilkes Booth is alive and well, and living in England. The investigation takes Sherlock to America with his tutor, Amyus Crowe.
- Black Ice (June 2011): Mycroft invites Sherlock and his tutor to London for a visit, but when they arrive at the Diogenes Club they find Mycroft with a dagger in his hand and a dead body on the floor. The adventure takes them from the depths of the London sewers to the frozen Russian landscapes.
- Fire Storm (November 2011): Fourteen-year-old Sherlock has come up against some challenges in his time, but what confronts him now is completely baffling. His tutor, Crowe, and Crowe's daughter, Virginia, have vanished. Their house looks as if nobody has ever lived there.
- Snake Bite (September 27, 2012): Sherlock finds himself facing another mystery after being kidnapped and taken to China on a ship named as the Gloria Scott.
- Knife Edge (October 2013): Takes place in Ireland.
Background
Based on the success of Charlie Higson's bestselling Young Bond series, the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle authorised a series of books detailing the life of the teenage Sherlock Holmes'.[1][2]
One of Andy Lane's key aims is to explain some of the complexities of Holmes' character, who is scientific and analytical on the one hand, and artistic and moody on the other. Two new characters introduced in this series, his two tutors, Amyus Crowe and Rufus Stone, will help shed light on the formation of the two sides of his character evident in later life.[2]
Further titles in the series may include;[2]
- The Giant Rat of Sumatra (mentioned in "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire")
- The Remarkable Worm Unknown to Science (mentioned in "The Problem of Thor Bridge")
- Colonel Warburton’s Madness (mentioned in "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb")
- The Segregation of the Queen (mentioned in "His Last Bow")
Reception
Chicago Tribune gave Death Cloud a positive review stating:
For a reader who has outgrown the Hardy Boys' adventures but still seeks mystery-solving plots, Andrew Lane's invention of a teenage Sherlock Holmes will seem timely.[3]
Graham Moore, author of The Sherlockian,[4] reviewed Death Cloud for The New York Times and stated:
Lane is attempting a curious feat: to update and adapt Sherlock Holmes for a new generation, much the way Guy Ritchie has done with a swashbuckling Sherlock on screen....Yet, in the end, the novel strives to rescue Holmes from the prejudices of his creator, and thereby expand the pool of Holmes devotees. For that we can all be grateful.[5]
See also
References
- ^ Alison Flood. ""Macmillan reveals adventures of young Sherlock Holmes": 18 March 2009". The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-12-17.
- ^ a b c "Young Sherlock Holmes Official Site: Andy Lane's Original Proposal for the series". Youngsherlock.com. Retrieved 2010-12-17.
- ^ Mary Harris Russell (March 7, 2011). ""Death Cloud" by Andrew Lane". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 16, 2011.
- ^ Janet Maslin (December 15, 2010). "A Sherlock Holmes Tale That's Hardly Elementary". New York Times. Retrieved March 16, 2011.
- ^ Graham Moore (March 11, 2011). "The Teenage Sherlock Holmes". New York Times. Retrieved March 16, 2011.