“Young Sherlock Holmes” series by Andrew Lane

Book Titles:

1. Death Cloud
2. Rebel Fire
3. Black Ice
4. Fire Storm
5. Snake Bite
6. Knife Edge

The truth behind Sherlock Holmes’ origin.

Recommended age: 14 – 16; 16 – 18; Adult

We all know the stories about the adult Sherlock Holmes, such as The Hound of the Baskervilles or A Study in Scarlet, but how much do we really know about the famous detective? Where did he live as a child? What sort of life did he have when he was young? All these things Arthur Conan Doyle left unanswered in his famous stories of the first great private detective. Now, however, the truth about Sherlock Holmes’ origin is being answered.

In the first book, Sherlock is withdrawn from his private school and is sent to live with his aunt and uncle, who were estranged from the family as a result of an incident in the distant past. Life with his relatives is dull at first, but when a pair of murders happen, Sherlock suddenly finds himself plunged into the first adventure of his life.

In the second book, Sherlock is out in the country when he stumbles across the secret hiding place of some Confederate leaders, who are making a plan that will change the world. Sherlock manages to escape from them, but soon he is heading to America to rescue his friend, who was kidnapped by the Confederates, never realizing the danger awaiting him in that nation.

In the third book, Sherlock’s older brother Mycroft is wrongfully accused of murder. Sherlock attempts to get him acquitted, but at the same time is pulled into an international conspiracy that will make England an outcast forever, and only Sherlock can stop it.

In the fourth book of the series, Sherlock’s friends Amyus and Virginia Crowe suddenly disappear, apparently leaving no trace of where they’ve gone. Sherlock is suspicious, however, and soon he finds a clue leading him to Edinburgh, where he is soon plunged into his most dangerous adventure yet.  

In the fifth book, Snake Bite, Sherlock Holmes finds himself unexpectedly on a boat trip to China, where he thwarts a mass murder planned by a shady business organization. 

In the sixth book, Knife Edge, Sherlock investigates the claims of a spiritualist who is trying to auction his abilities to the country who will pay the most.

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The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

The perfect book for anyone who’s ever wondered about Middle-Earth’s legendary past, it has a near-perfect blend of mystery and adventure, romance and tragedy, victory and defeat. In magnificent language, Tolkien gives us a display of the epic eternal battle of light versus dark and good versus evil.

Recommended age: 14 – 16; 16 – 18; Adult

The book is divided into five parts: The Ainulindalë (the tale of the song of the Ainur), the Valaquenta (the tale of the Valar), the Quenta Silmarillion (the tale of the Silmarilli), the Akallabêth (the tale of the downfall of Númenor), and a small section entitled “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age”. The first two are mainly concerned with the creation of the world and descriptions of the Valar (powerful angels that were charged with the care of Middle-Earth).

But it’s in the Quenta Silmarillion that the real action start. The story traces the battle between good and evil, starting at the Beginning of Days. The good guys are the Valar, the Elves, and Men, but the Elves and Men make mistakes along the way. The bad guys are Morgoth (also known as Melkor; Tolkien’s version of Satan) and his various malevolent minions: Balrogs, Orcs, Trolls, Dragons, Evil Men, and a rather familiar nasty dude named Sauron (ring any bells?). In Quenta, each chapter contains a different tale or legend, but each story is connected to the whole. The tales mainly deal with the three Silmarilli (jewels of light and power) and the war over them. The fourth part, “Akallabêth,” is about the ancient island of Númenor (which some of you may remember) and its downfall. The fifth and last talks about Sauron’s rise after Morgoth’s defeat and the forging of the rings of power, and the strife that resulted, ending in the famous War of the Ring.

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 “Scottish Bookshop Mystery” series by Paige Shelton

1. The Cracked Spine

1.5 A Christmas Tartan (Short story e-book; Not Reviewed)

2. Of Bags and Bagpipes

Recommended age: The Cracked Spine: 16 – 18; Adult

                                    Of Bags and Bagpipes: Adult

In The Cracked Spine, Delaney Nichols surprises herself by responding to an ad for a job at a bookshop in Edinburgh after she is unexpectedly laid-off from her Natural History Museum job at a university in Kansas.  She gets the job and meets many interesting people, most of whom seem very friendly and welcoming: her employer and co-workers, her employer’s business associates, her first taxi-driver, and the owner of the pub across the street from her job.  But before she can settle into her new life, her employer’s sister is brutally murdered and a precious artifact goes missing.  Can she sort out whom she can trust and solve the mystery without getting any of her new friends (or herself) killed?  

            Delaney’s story continues in Of Bags and Bagpipes.  She is confronted by another tragic death connected to her work and her employer and once again gets caught up in solving the mystery.

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 “Interworld” Series by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves

1. Interworld
2. The Silver Dream
3. Eternity’s Wheel

Yes; a fast-moving imaginative story about fighting evil.

Recommended age: 12 – 14; 14 – 16; 16 – 18; Adult

Joey is walking around town on a school assignment when he walks through a fog and finds himself in a world very much like his world, but somehow different.   Suddenly attacked by futuristic raiders, he escapes with the aid of an unusual-looking man wearing a mask.   However, his escape brings him to a world where he is already dead.  Then, before he can process this, he is captured by pirates who take him up to space.   Rescued again, he finds out that he is a Walker—a person capable of passing through dimensions.  He joins Interworld in their battle against the futuristic Binary and the evil, magical HEX pirates.  In the second book, Joey meets a Time Traveler from the Time Watch organization who intervenes in Joey’s time frustrating the plans of Binary and HEX.   In the third book, Joey leads the fight to stop Binary and HEX’s universe-destroying plans.

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Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle

An intriguing look at the Prohibition Era.

Recommended age: 14 – 16; 16 – 18; Adult.  

Ruben and his friend — two fourteen-year olds — find a dead body on the beach.  This is the heart of Prohibition rum-running.   The small-town smugglers are running alcohol, and then things get more and more dangerous as bigger and bigger gangs work on muscling their way into the lucrative smuggling.

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“Adventure Through Time” series by Ted Bell

1. Nick of Time
2. The Time Pirate

Complex and exciting time travel stories.

Recommended age: 12 – 14; 14 – 16; 16 – 18; Adult

Nick lives in a lighthouse on the edge of a British Island next to France during the days before World War II.   His father is engaged with a group of “bird watchers” who are monitoring suspicious German submarine and air movements through the channel.  Seeking to help his father, Nick discovers a new German secret submarine.   At the same time, he meets a vicious pirate, William Blood, from the early 19^th century who is after a mysterious chest that Nick had just found on the shore of his island.    In the second book, Nick continues his fight against the Germans, including using an old Sopwith Camel that he and his friend, Gunner, have restored.   Nick also goes back to 1781 to rescue his sister from Captain Blood and stop Captain Blood’s attempt to change history.

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Tregaron’s Daughter by Madeleine Brent

An interesting romance set in 1910 England.

Recommended age: 14 – 16; 16 – 18; Adult.

Caterina (Cadi) Tregaron was the daughter of a fisherman in Cornwall not long after the turn of the 20^th century. Though her father was true Cornish through and through, her mother’s mother was different.  During his travels in Italy, Cadi’s grandfather had found Cadi’s grandmother, then a young woman, stuffed in a sack and unconscious, sinking in the waters around Naples. But that doesn’t have much to do with Cadi, or so she thinks. When her father dies suddenly and she is left an orphan, she is taken into the family of Mr. Morton — a kind, relatively wealthy gentleman whose life she and her father had saved. While living with them, they discover a surprising secret of her grandmother’s past, sending her to visit Venice with her adopted family. But beneath the sunny surface of Venice there lies darkness and deceit, and Cadi is troubled by strange dreams, haunted by Mr. Morton’s mysterious nephew, Lucien Farrel.

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“Tales of Goldstone Wood” series by Anne Stengl

1. Heartless
2. Veiled Rose
3. Moonblood
4. Starflower
5. Dragonwitch

5.5. Goddess Tithe

1. Shadow Hand
2. Golden Daughter

• Draven’s Light

8.1 Poison Crown: The Smallman’s Heir, Volume 1 (Not yet published and Not Reviewed)

8.2 Poison Crown: The House of Lights, Volume 2 (Not yet published and Not Reviewed)

Excellent fantasy with strong Christian themes.

Recommended age: 12 – 14; 14 – 16; 16 – 18; Adult

In Heartless, Una is waiting for her suitors to come.  A few she rejects, some she wants but cannot have.   Only one really loves her.  In the meantime, a great dragon has been working his way from the south— ravaging nations, looking for her.   She discovers why when she learns what is really in her heart.   By then she has given up hope: her country invaded and defeated, her father and brother in danger of death.   But, there is one who still pursues her with the goal of saving her and her land. The second and third books fill out the first book from the viewpoint of a jester from the first book. The fourth book goes into the back story of two characters from the first three books. The fifth book continues the story in the fourth book. The novella “Goddess Tithe” takes place during the second book. The sixth book binds characters from both the past storyline and the future storyline together. The seventh book continues the storyline shortly after the events of the sixth book. The novella “Draven’s Light” takes place way before any of the other books.

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