Death Cloud

Gr 6—9—It's the summer of 1868 and 14-year-old Sherlock Holmes is on a break from school. Since his father is away in the army and his older brother is busy in London, Sherlock lands at the estate of some relatives he doesn't know and is soon embroiled in a mystery that has far-reaching consequences in this title (Farrar Straus, 2011) written by Andrew Lane and endorsed by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's estate. Two men have died from what at first appears to be the plague, but turns out to be something far more sinister. And what is the Death Cloud? Dan Weyman does an amazing job of giving life to all of the characters, from Sherlock's delectable British accent to his tutor, American-born Amyus Crowe, to Baron Maupertuis, the menacing villain from the European continent. The language of Lane's story sounds like Doyle's original work. The only quibble from a production perspective is that each CD ends abruptly with no indication that it has to be changed. A great introduction to the Victorian mystery genre for young people who will eagerly await the next title in the series.—Ann Brownson, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston