itabar's review against another edition
This book isn't doing it for me. I am not caring about any of the characters so far, so I'm quitting.
cnorbury's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent debut novel. Has that "British quality"-- reserved characters, proper and all, with wry senses of humor and irony, well mannered, polite and quite bemused by American culture, but not in a negative way.
Pace was taut, the plot moved swiftly through the myriad characters, but all were so distinct as to not become jumbled in this reader's mind. Left the door open to a sequel, which I understand will happen. (has happened?)
Pace was taut, the plot moved swiftly through the myriad characters, but all were so distinct as to not become jumbled in this reader's mind. Left the door open to a sequel, which I understand will happen. (has happened?)
halfcentreader's review against another edition
4.0
Fast paced whodunit that spanned the Atlantic. Less to do with Sherlock Holmes than you might be led to believe. But the premise behind the letters addressed to a fictional Holmes that arrive at the modern Baker Street address is clever and I foresee many mysteries that will need solved for the Heath brothers.
qrodson's review against another edition
2.0
This book was a OK. It was almost just a palette cleanser before going into another genre or back to my usual heavy mystery/thriller books.
I had a hard time liking the main character. I actually don't think I ever did like him. He was rather pompous. So there was a disconnect there.
And the mystery...well I'm used to going along for the ride and figuring it all out as I go. This was not how this book was written. You get gaps and then the main character just sums it up for you in different parts of the book.
I had a hard time liking the main character. I actually don't think I ever did like him. He was rather pompous. So there was a disconnect there.
And the mystery...well I'm used to going along for the ride and figuring it all out as I go. This was not how this book was written. You get gaps and then the main character just sums it up for you in different parts of the book.
smbla's review against another edition
2.0
I wanted to love this mystery and only liked it. Somehow the essence of Sherlock Holmes was missing in the deductive powers of the main character. Perhaps if the author had not set the major portion of the plot in Los Angeles the narrative might have played better.
mpetruce's review against another edition
3.0
Not bad for a mystery. I ran across the audio version of the second book in this series and grabbed this one to catch up. I'll be honest, I only read it because the author is a Boilermaker, like me. But, whatever gets somebody to read, right?
That said, I normally steer clear of Sherlock Holmes pastiches. What a pleasant surprise to discover this is not a Holmes pastiche. The premise is that this barrister moves his office into 221B Baker Street and as a result, people write letters to Sherlock Holmes asking him to solve cases, among other things. And then the rest is more or less straightforward mystery.
I'm not a huge mystery fan, but I like the occasional one, and this one was an entertaining and fun, light read. A found a few situations a little unrealistic, I just didn't see some of the characters, or any person of the intelligence of the people in this book, actually making some of the decisions they end up making. But it's a minor complaint.
This is a fun, quick, book-to-read-between-books read. And it was engaging enough to continue with the second book, "The Brothers of Baker Street," which I am so far enjoying even more.
That said, I normally steer clear of Sherlock Holmes pastiches. What a pleasant surprise to discover this is not a Holmes pastiche. The premise is that this barrister moves his office into 221B Baker Street and as a result, people write letters to Sherlock Holmes asking him to solve cases, among other things. And then the rest is more or less straightforward mystery.
I'm not a huge mystery fan, but I like the occasional one, and this one was an entertaining and fun, light read. A found a few situations a little unrealistic, I just didn't see some of the characters, or any person of the intelligence of the people in this book, actually making some of the decisions they end up making. But it's a minor complaint.
This is a fun, quick, book-to-read-between-books read. And it was engaging enough to continue with the second book, "The Brothers of Baker Street," which I am so far enjoying even more.
kazalicious's review against another edition
Not rating because I didn't finish. The narrator was good, the writing was fine I just couldn't get into the story.
me2brett's review against another edition
3.0
This book was not what I expected. Given the set-up, I was looking for a Sherlock Holmes pastiche, which this wasn't. The characters weren't as well-developed as I'd liked, and I felt the hero was a bit thick. However, it was a fun read, worth picking up.
lizbusby's review against another edition
3.0
Good book. Nothing outstanding about it other than being a fairly clean mystery (so long as you don't count British swearing--which I don't). Might continue in the series.
kindleandilluminate's review against another edition
1.0
The plot begins and ends with the fact that this successful lawyer doesn’t read papers before signing them. Every other problem I had with this novel feels like a variation on that fundamental flaw.