A review by booksteacupnreviews
Barnabas Tew and The Case Of The Missing Scarab by Columbkill Noonan
5.0
*** Note: Many thanks to Rachel and author for providing review copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review. ***
Stars – 4.5/5
Barnabas Tew and The Case Of The Missing Scarab was a humorous cozy mystery set in Victorian London era nicely blended with Egyptian mythology. As the title and blurb suggests it was the story of two British detectives, Barnabas Tew and his assistant Wilfred Colby, and their adventurous journey to the Egyptian underworld for solving the case of missing scarab for which they were hired by none other than Egyptian God of Death- Anubis. The book was quirky and purely entertainment.
Characters-
Barnabas Tew– was awkward, clumsy, babbling, not-so-successful private detective who lacked confidence and cleverness contrasting his role model Sherlock Holmes. He had a knack for mess up things more. But he was such a gentleman, kind, and soft-hearted fellow. I bet you will think at some point how this dude is going to solve the case but he definitely surprised me in climax. Wilfred– was better built and even more clever and rational than Barnabas but was too modest to show this to his employer. He knew Barnabas better than anyone else and the way he coped with his moods and blunders was really great.
What I liked-
Writing was awesome! It was lighthearted, very British, and entertaining contrary to what I expected from cover and blurb. Characters were the charm of the book. You will notice characters- both British detectives and Gods of Egypt- more than anything else in the book. It was so easy to imagine Barnabas and other characters in my head from the very beginning of the book.
The story was third person narrative with amusing monologues of narrator. Within first few chapter detectives were introduced and the many unfortunate cases were discussed which made it very clear that this book going to be so entertaining that you have to put your logic and mind aside and just enjoy it. The way they were assigned the case by Anubis was unbelievable and so much hilarious. Majority of the story take place in Egyptian underworld.
Ancient Gods and Goddesses in the book were quirky and moody. There isn’t much of a story/myth related to them in the book, just bit of facts about them. But they were described remarkably with those different heads and detectives’ funny comments on that which made it easy to imagine them clearly. The way they pulled legs of detectives was entertaining. Oh God, I laughed so much when detectives got their mouse heads. And their encounter with Hathor’s guards! These two scenes were unforgettable.
I pitied situation of Barnabas and Wilfred. Poor fellows had only little knowledge about Egyptian mythology or Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, they didn’t know their way around the underworld, and they didn’t have much help from people living there. Moreover they didn’t ask enough proper questions regarding the case! No planning, no clue! I was like ‘oh dear, how they are going to investigate the case! They are simply gone cases’. The way they were misled and blunders (yes, plural) they made in finding Khepre was remarkably hilarious. I kept shaking my head and smiling in disbelief like all Egyptian Gods at Barnabas’s stupidity and the way he kept losing the track of the case.
I admit I stopped guessing who was the culprit very early in the book and was just going with flow like I was watching funny TV series. Silliness and headless investigation of the detectives made the book so much unpredictable. I bet, you won’t think what culprit might do next in the story but what these detectives will do. 😀
Conversations between the characters takes the all the stars. I so much enjoyed Barnabas and Wilfred’s worthless discussions and whisperings specifically those in presence of various Gods.
Finally, in the climax, the cogwheels of their brain started turning in right direction. The bit of twist and proper questioning, plan, and help made the climax engaging and entertaining. The end was surprising with another twist that gave the hint of Barnabas’ next adventure in the next book. I signed up for the blog tour for second book without even reading its blurb and I’m glad I did it. The whole Egyptian adventure of Barnabas and his assistant was so much fun to read that I would love to see what they will do in the next book- Barnabas Tew and the Case of the Nine Worlds.
why 4.5 stars-
Barnabas was annoying in middle part of the book.
I wish there was a bit of myth as well. As mythology lover it wasn't that much satisfactory to read this Egyptian adventure without myths and stories.
Overall, it was purely entertainment, humorous, and enjoyable story with odd characters and lots of Egyptian adventure. I definitely recommend this book to those would like a light humorous mystery book.
You can read all my reviews on Blog - Books Teacup and Reviews
Stars – 4.5/5
Barnabas Tew and The Case Of The Missing Scarab was a humorous cozy mystery set in Victorian London era nicely blended with Egyptian mythology. As the title and blurb suggests it was the story of two British detectives, Barnabas Tew and his assistant Wilfred Colby, and their adventurous journey to the Egyptian underworld for solving the case of missing scarab for which they were hired by none other than Egyptian God of Death- Anubis. The book was quirky and purely entertainment.
Characters-
Barnabas Tew– was awkward, clumsy, babbling, not-so-successful private detective who lacked confidence and cleverness contrasting his role model Sherlock Holmes. He had a knack for mess up things more. But he was such a gentleman, kind, and soft-hearted fellow. I bet you will think at some point how this dude is going to solve the case but he definitely surprised me in climax. Wilfred– was better built and even more clever and rational than Barnabas but was too modest to show this to his employer. He knew Barnabas better than anyone else and the way he coped with his moods and blunders was really great.
What I liked-
Writing was awesome! It was lighthearted, very British, and entertaining contrary to what I expected from cover and blurb. Characters were the charm of the book. You will notice characters- both British detectives and Gods of Egypt- more than anything else in the book. It was so easy to imagine Barnabas and other characters in my head from the very beginning of the book.
The story was third person narrative with amusing monologues of narrator. Within first few chapter detectives were introduced and the many unfortunate cases were discussed which made it very clear that this book going to be so entertaining that you have to put your logic and mind aside and just enjoy it. The way they were assigned the case by Anubis was unbelievable and so much hilarious. Majority of the story take place in Egyptian underworld.
Ancient Gods and Goddesses in the book were quirky and moody. There isn’t much of a story/myth related to them in the book, just bit of facts about them. But they were described remarkably with those different heads and detectives’ funny comments on that which made it easy to imagine them clearly. The way they pulled legs of detectives was entertaining. Oh God, I laughed so much when detectives got their mouse heads. And their encounter with Hathor’s guards! These two scenes were unforgettable.
I pitied situation of Barnabas and Wilfred. Poor fellows had only little knowledge about Egyptian mythology or Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, they didn’t know their way around the underworld, and they didn’t have much help from people living there. Moreover they didn’t ask enough proper questions regarding the case! No planning, no clue! I was like ‘oh dear, how they are going to investigate the case! They are simply gone cases’. The way they were misled and blunders (yes, plural) they made in finding Khepre was remarkably hilarious. I kept shaking my head and smiling in disbelief like all Egyptian Gods at Barnabas’s stupidity and the way he kept losing the track of the case.
I admit I stopped guessing who was the culprit very early in the book and was just going with flow like I was watching funny TV series. Silliness and headless investigation of the detectives made the book so much unpredictable. I bet, you won’t think what culprit might do next in the story but what these detectives will do. 😀
Conversations between the characters takes the all the stars. I so much enjoyed Barnabas and Wilfred’s worthless discussions and whisperings specifically those in presence of various Gods.
Finally, in the climax, the cogwheels of their brain started turning in right direction. The bit of twist and proper questioning, plan, and help made the climax engaging and entertaining. The end was surprising with another twist that gave the hint of Barnabas’ next adventure in the next book. I signed up for the blog tour for second book without even reading its blurb and I’m glad I did it. The whole Egyptian adventure of Barnabas and his assistant was so much fun to read that I would love to see what they will do in the next book- Barnabas Tew and the Case of the Nine Worlds.
why 4.5 stars-
Barnabas was annoying in middle part of the book.
I wish there was a bit of myth as well. As mythology lover it wasn't that much satisfactory to read this Egyptian adventure without myths and stories.
Overall, it was purely entertainment, humorous, and enjoyable story with odd characters and lots of Egyptian adventure. I definitely recommend this book to those would like a light humorous mystery book.
You can read all my reviews on Blog - Books Teacup and Reviews