A review by nerfherder86
Eye of the Crow by Shane Peacock

4.0

This is an excellent mystery and a great introduction to the character of Sherlock Holmes as a teenager. It is a completely different imagining of Sherlock's youth from the Andrew Lane Young Sherlock Holmes series ([b:Death Cloud|263050|The Death And Life Of Charlie St. Cloud|Ben Sherwood|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1329827169s/263050.jpg|2563685], darker and I think truer to the character. This 13 year old Sherlock lives in a poor section of London with his opera-loving mother and his Jewish scientist father; he often skips school to hang out in the city, where he hones the observational skills he learned from his father. But he's also taunted by street kids for being a "half-breed." When a girl is murdered in an alley, and the Muslim boy suspected of the murder proclaims his innocence to Sherlock as he is taken into custody, Sherlock feels compelled to try to find the real killer. His efforts become even more crucial when he himself is arrested as an accomplice for merely having been seen talking to the main suspect! Sherlock ends up living on the streets as a fugitive, and enlists the help of both the lowest of society--a gang of scruffy pickpockets known as the Trafalgar Square Irregulars--and the more genteel--a young woman his age named Irene Doyle. He will need all of his brains and courage to get through this dark case. I loved all the little Holmesian touches, as you see the detective's personality beginning to be formed. By the end of the book he has definitely taken steps towards his adult self, and I am curious to see what happens next in this six book series to further mold him.