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Eye of the Crow: The Boy Sherlock Holmes, His 1st Case

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Read it now, because next year you will probably see in on Broadway. In the dead of night, under the dense fog of London, a terrible crime has been occurred. A beautiful woman is stabbed and left to die in a pool of blood. No one has witnessed the crime, or have they? Meanwhile, in a dreary London flat, a brilliant, bitter and decidedly odd teenager named Sherlock Holmes dreams of a better life. His mother, a highborn lady, has been cast out of her family because she married a Jew, his bright university trained father, who is unable to attain his true potential because of anti-Semitism in the London of 1867. The father toils at a low-paying job, while his mother tutors voice in the homes of the wealthy. Young Holmes, as he visits the murder scene and speculates on the clustering of crows above it, becomes a suspect. Danger runs high and interest piques page by page until the mystery is finally solved. This is a page-turner par-excellence. Shane Peacock has created a boy who bears all the seeds of the future adult Homes. His clever characterization of the boy Holmes, hints at the great detective Holmes will become. As for Jewish interest -it is there in the discrimination issues, and (pardon me) in the depiction of Jewish seichel. Ages 10-14. Reviewed by Marcia Posner

Young adults who relish detective stories will find much to like in EYE OF THE CROW, set in 1867 London and telling of a woman's murder and the son of a Jewish intellectual, Sherlock Holmes, who dreams of a better life to rise him above impoverishment. His investigation of the murder brings him into social and cultural conflict in this 'boy Sherlock Holmes' story.

Sherlock Holmes is a lonely boy who skips school and wonders the streets of London observing the comings and goings of both rich and poor. A young woman has been killed and a Muslim boy is accused of the crime. Holmes knows the boy is innocent and seeks to discover the real murderer. This is not a light Sherlock Holmes mystery. Peacock's version of Holmes is very conflicted. He faces anti-Semitism and lives in poverty. The murder is especially brutal and although Holmes does solve the mystery, it comes at great cost to himself. The narration is also very complex and indirect which may be off putting to some readers. Readers who are already familiar with the Holmes stories will be pleased to see familiar characters like Inspector Lestrade (as a little boy) and the author Arthur Conan Doyle appears as a crusader for equality. The storyline includes many encounters with London street gangs and Peacock is accurate in his descriptions of the poverty of London's East End and the strict class structure of Victorian English society.

It's a brave writer indeed who seeks to recreate Sherlock Holmes. In this particular instance, the author shows us Sherlock as a teen living in poverty in London because his aristocratic mother married a Jewish professor and as a result the family has been ostracized. After a sensational murder occurs in the White Chapel area of London, Sherlock notices crows about. He goes to the ally where the murder occurred . . . and is accused of being the murderer. He must use his developing skills to solve the crime.

I must say that the teen character didn't really feel like Sherlock to me, and that has kept me from reading other books in this series. On the other hand, the background and plot were well done. The narrative didn't seem Sherlockian either -- but then, Watson isn't telling the story! For me, there was something missing in the character.

Meet Sherlock Holmes when he was young: before the deerstalker hat, before Watson, before the cocaine. Shane Peacock has written a marvelous book for middle school readers about thirteen-year-old Sherlock as he solves his first case.

It's 1865 and young Sherlock, the son of impoverished parents, walks the loud, bustling streets of London. He reads discarded copies of The Illustrated Police News and today the headline is MURDER! A beautiful young woman was found dead in a London street, knifed to death. The lurid drawing of the corpse has an odd detail--a crow. The next day the newspaper reports that a young Arab man, found with a bloody butcher knife, was arrested. Sherlock joins the crowd outside the Old Bailey Courthouse to see him taken in and the Arab says to him, "I didn't do it." Later, Sherlock walks the London streets, wondering if an innocent man is going to hang.

As he walks, he notices two crows; they fly and then roost in a tree and then fly again. Some instinct tells him to follow them. They lead him to an ancient part of London where the fog thickens in the narrow, winding streets. Still led by the crows, he turns into an empty alley...with a familiar name. Here is where the woman was murdered! Blood stains the cobblestones and the crows peck at the rubble nearby. Sherlock thinks they saw something shiny here and came back to look for it, but it's the boy who finds it--a glass eye.

Soon the police show up at his family's shabby apartment. They saw him visit the scene of the murder, so they arrest him for possible involvement in a murder. Now he must solve the crime. But how, since he's in prison?

Shane Peacock, who has a dog named Watson, has done a masterful job of imagining this youthful version of Sherlock, which fits together with the older Holmes like a satisfying puzzle. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would be proud.

I have read all four books to date in this series (Eye of the Crow, Death in the Air, Vanishing Girl and The Secret Fiend), but am writing a review within the first installment in the hopes that others will begin this incredible journey.

Shane Peacock has written a fascinating series on Sherlock Holmes and what his life might have been as a young boy in early Victorian England. What emerges is a better understanding of Sherlock's personality and training through his formative years. The author places the reader into a richly detailed and visually affecting Victorian England - Sherlock's life intertwined among the desperate poor and the contrasted wealthy. In this setting surfaces detailed characters the reader may recognize - an elderly ally in a small apothecary shop who shares his knowledge of chemistry and potions and the fine art of bellitsu defense, a young blond daughter of an active philanthropist who desires more out of life, and a formidable and treacherous nemesis in dark clothes, top hat and cane who leads a gang of street ruffians.

Eye of the Crow is a well-plotted, thrilling first mystery involving a heinous murder in White Chapel and the crime that will catapult Sherlock into his first investigation. The book explores Sherlock's early struggles and family life, and how his first case ultimately results in a shocking personal repercussion.

I actually couldn't believe there had not been any reviews of this book written yet. I highly enjoy this series. This is technically a children's book, but would be very enjoyable for adults (like myself). In this series, Holmes is growing up poor in London. He is half-Jewish, and suffers taunts from others as a result. There are several things I really enjoy about this series. One is that the author really catches the flavor of what a young Holmes would be like. Two, the author chooses names that any Sherlockian would get a kick out of (most come from the "canon", or from Doyle, himself). Three, the author weaves an exciting tale with intriguing characters. I have enjoyed every book in the series so far, and I look forward to more.

Sherlock's childhood is revealed as not quite Canonical, but interesting all the same. A preview of Holmes the "Sword Of Justice" is seen as young Sherlock scampers around London in an effort to save an innocent man. Lestrade is too old and Holmes too emotional for Watson's rendering of the adventures years later, but the story is fun and goes well with a cup of tea.