Synopsis: When Sherlock Holmes disappears, it is up to his cadre of young ‘Irregulars’ – the self-styled Baker Street Boys, although three of the seven are girls – to take up the investigation, rescue the great detective and save Great Britain from the sinister plans of the Napoleon of Crime. 

 Review: The first book in Anthony Read’s Baker Street Boys series introduces its cast of characters and their relationship to Sherlock Holmes. Wiggins – the one named in Conan Doyle’s work – has aspirations to be Holmes’ apprentice, while the portly and amiable Beaver is his Watson. Each of the other ‘Boys’ brings their own skills to the mix, from Queenie’s domestic skills to Sparrow’s understanding of stage magic and Rosie’s olfactory excellence.

The Baker Street Boys are an amiable group of protagonists, with at least a couple of books in them; more if Read can manage a decent pace of character development. They are reminiscent of Philip Pullman’s New Cut Gang, but only in as much as the New Cut Gang owe a loose debt of inspiration to Conan Doyle’s Irregulars. The ensemble cast is juggled well, so that no-one seems left out and the villains are suitably Victorian in their villainy. All-in-all, a good read and a worthy entry into studies of the influence of Conan Doyle.

2006-11-24