Robert J. Harris - Artie Conan Doyle and the Gravediggers' Club (Artie Conan Doyle Mysteries) - Book Review

One day Arthur Conan Doyle will create the greatest detective of all -- Sherlock Holmes. But right now Artie Conan Doyle is a twelve-year-old Edinburgh schoolboy with a mystery of his own to solve. While sneaking out to explore Greyfriars Kirkyard by night, Artie and his best friend Ham spot a ghostly lady in grey and discover the footprints of a gigantic hound. Could the two mysteries be connected? These strange clues lead them to a series of robberies carried out the sinister Gravediggers' Club and soon they find themselves pitted against the villainous Colonel Braxton Dash. Will Artie survive his encounters with graveyards and ghosts in the foggy streets of nineteenth century Edinburgh -- or will his first case be his last?

Robert J. Harris, author of the brilliant The World Goes Loki series, has now exploded onto the middle-grade fantasy scene with another new series entitled Artie Conan Doyle Mysteries. The first book in the series is "The Gravediggers' Club" which was published by Floris books on the 16th February 2017. As soon as you turn the page, you find yourself instantly transported back to 19th century Edinburgh, where it is swirling with fog, danger and a slight hint of bagpipes playing in the background. 

Welcome Artie Conan Doyle onto the stage with his friend and sidekick in tow, Ham.You will love Ham's laid back character and the way he deals with the danger and on-going adventure. He would rather be somewhere else where it is warm, safe and allows him to eat cakes, rather than a spooky graveyard late at night with a howling beast or a spooky apparition scaring him witless! As you'll be able to tell, he is very reluctant to engage in the mystery that suddenly smacks them in the face. 

The adventure follows Artie's suspicions around the young trainee doctor lodging at their house who is up to no good. It's a very easy-going story to follow with a mystery to solve. It is full of action and brings together an eclectic cast of characters to give it some Scottish charm. It reflects the time and period very well through the reality of sickness/poverty and the hardships family faced at that period in time. The setting and backdrop are very well written. They enable you to recognise aspects of the city as well as get a brilliant feel for the story. 

The villain of the story, Colonel Braxton Dash, has a great name but he did not quite live up to his reputation. In my opinion, he needed more dark deeds to heighten the tension and develop his character. A little extra side story would have turned this into a dark macabre story and made the reader sit up a little more and take notice. 

This is a very enjoyable detective story consisting of some brilliant dialogue. It has a fantastic ending which makes a good impression for the rest of the series.  

Mr Ripley's Book Review: Rohan Gavin - Knightley & Son - Published by Bloomsbury

                           

Bloomsbury has acquired a “darkly comic detective series” called Knightley & Son, which has been written by the screenwriter Rohan Gavin. This debut release will be out next year - 2nd January 2014. What makes this book particularly interesting to me is the authors aim. He mixes many genres and concepts into this book - fantasy, suspense, comedy and mystery. These are all of the things that excited the author as a child, but also older readers like me. I have to say that, in my opinion, this book surpasses all expectations. It was such an enjoyable and interesting read - I was very pleasantly surprised. I believe that this book should and, probably will do very really well.

Any fan of Sherlock Holmes will find this book very appealing. It is a very fast paced exploration into the detective world where you are introduced to Alan Knightley and his son, Darkus - two great detectives for the price of one. If the crime is too strange for Scotland Yard to handle then Alan Knightley is the man usually to solve it. Unfortunately he has recently fallen into a mysterious coma. However Darkus is determined to follow in his father's footsteps and find out what has really happened. 

It comes as a great surprise when Alan Knightley suddenly wakes up, but his memory is rather vague and he needs help to piece the events together. Fortunately Darkus is on hand to support him and the partnership suddenly springs into life for Knightley & Son with a mystery that gets stranger by the minute.

I don't want to spoil your reading pleasure so I'm not going to divulge any more information about the plot. However the characters, in this action packed tale, are a mixed bunch; they are very interesting but not at all representative of your stereotypical/average characters that you would normally find in this type of story. Interestingly, Alan and Darkus are not the only characters who are able to, and are good at, working things out in this adventure. A number of secondary characters are also able to deliver a lot of punch and mystery within the story. 

This book really hooked me in - I read it in one sitting. It had lots of wonderful ideas that worked particularly well, and had a slightly different feel to what I was expecting. My only small gripe was that I was hoping for a twist at some point in the story, but I never found it. However this didn't detract from the story itself which comprises of dark and sinister moments to keep you on the edge of your seat. It delivers great moments of comedy laughter that will have you chuckling to yourself, but it also incorporates the very heartwarming relationship between father and son. 

This book is full of suspense, mystery and some very clever detective skills. All of which will appeal to any fantasy lovers at any reading level. It is a very good build-up to a potentially fantastic series.

Mystery awaits and after all, how much power can one book have? Jump into the action and find out.....