A review by truestorydesu
Eye of the Crow by Shane Peacock

3.0

In 1860s London, Sherlock Holmes is 13 years old, son of a highborn woman disowned by her family for her marriage to a poor Jew. Bullied and friendless, Sherlock spends the bulk of his days observing everything and solving small mysteries. When Sherlock decides to solve the murder of an actress, he finds himself accused of the crime. Escaping from prison with the help of Irene Doyle, a philanthropist’s daughter, Sherlock must race against the clock to solve the crime to save himself from the hangman’s noose. The story and writing begin strong, but the quality declines rapidly as the story goes on. It is almost as if Peacock lost interest in the story after the first couple of chapters. The writing goes from rich and descriptive to an all-tell no-show style that is acutely disappointing. The female characters in the novel are caricatures: Irene Doyle is flat and featureless, existing solely as a crutch for Sherlock. The women whose murder Sherlock is investigating is not even named until the latter half of the book. Sherlock’s mother, meant to be a tragic figure, becomes another throw away woman acting as motivation for Holmes. Though Peacock clearly did his research, sprinkling the story with many references to the Holmes canon, they do little to make up for the poor story and even poorer writing.