A great new mystery series

books:

	• The 100-Year-Old Secret (The Sherlock Files) Tracy Barrett Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), 2008 - 160 pages average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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Loves Mysteries

My daughter who is ten loves mysteries and she really enjoyed this book. She is looking forward to other books in the series.

An Adventurous Whodunit

This fun and suspenseful whodunit is sure to delight readers!

When American twins Xena and Xander move to London, they learn they're direct descendants of the great detective Sherlock Holmes. After they're given his casebook of unresolved cases - complete with clues - the twins enter a surprising journey of mystery and intrigue that take them all over London and its suburbs.

Sherlock Holmes fans will appreciate how author Tracy Barrett masterfully weaves bits and pieces from the original Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle into her book.

I couldn't put this page-turner down! Complete with a quaint English village, Henry the Eighth's mansion, boarding schools, and numerous art galleries, this book will please thrill-seeking readers.

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A great new mystery series

There's a new mystery series on the block.

Now, the only thing better than a Henry Holt book is a story by children's author Tracy Barrett. Put them together and you'd expect a fun book, which is exactly what this pair supplies.

This first book in a new series introduces us to American siblings who travel to London. There, they learn that they're related to the great detective, Sherlock Holmes. Of course, Xena and Xander are wanna-be detectives and Barrett doesn't waste any time throwing them into their first real mystery.

Just a few pages into the story, the kids receive Sherlock Holmes' unsolved casebook. Can two American kids do what Sherlock Holmes couldn't? Barrett's story moves quickly, but not too quickly. Each new clue leads to new questions. Solving one mystery simply exposes another!

Barrett masterfully paints the characters of Xena and Xander while launching the story's plot, and I like that. I so much want to turn that first page in every book I read and this one certainly didn't disappoint me. Barrett's beginning is a charming device that sets up the plot without boring the reader. Everything fits.

I loved the way Barrett uses a fictional character, Sherlock Holmes, to lend credibility to her characters. In addition, she gives Xander a photographic memory so the kids have quick access to information in a fun way. It's a marvelous way to solve a literary problem while making Xander a "real boy." Kids will easily identify with both Xena and Xander because Barrett allows them to be kids, not just miniatures detectives. Xena and Xander matter just as much as solving the mystery.

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Xena and Xander Holmes have just discovered they?re related to Sherlock Holmes and have inherited his unsolved casebook! The siblings set out to solve the cases their famous ancestor couldn?t, starting with the mystery of a prized painting that vanished more than a hundred years ago. Can two smart twenty-first-century kids succeed where Sherlock Holmes could not? Modern technology meets the classic detective story in this terrific new mystery series that will intrigue young sleuths everywhere!