Fire Storm

Lane, Andrew. Fire Storm (Young Sherlock Holmes #4)
1 October 2013 by Farrar, Strauss, Giroux

Young Sherlock is back, and is he ever busy! First, he has to deal with the evil housekeeper, Mrs. Eglantine, who is holding something over his studious uncle's head. Sherlock finds that there is another secret keeper in town, the unscrupulous Harkness, who keeps earns his living by blackmailing everyone he can. With his friend Matty's help, Sherlock manages to destroy all of Harkness' files, freeing the town from his grasp. However, after this is done, Amyus Crowe and his daughter Virginia go missing. With the help of his music tutor Rufus Stone, Sherlock and Matty cleverly follow a clue and head to Edinburgh, but on the train Rufus goes missing! Luckily, Sherlock has some connection and can follow a clue. He thinks that the Paradol Chamber is back and may have some of his friends, but he also has to deal with the Resurrectionists in Edinburgh-- creepy, half dead people seem to be inhabiting the city. After finding all of his companions, Sherlock is glad to be home, having a nice cup of tea brought to him by the new, NICE housekeeper... but then he is poisoned and ends up on a ship bound for China. We just will have to wait a bit in the US for Snake Bite  and Knife's Edge.
Strengths: This one seemed more like Doyle's work than the previous books. The change of scenery was nice, as was the small bit of mystery everywhere he went. I like the love interest with Virginia, and since Amyus spent most of his time being kidnapped, we didn't have to listen to his dialect! This series can be read out of order, I think, which helps.
Weaknesses: A bit busy, so there was not as much character development.

As if blogging weren't enough of a "time suck" (I do love blogging, because when I forget a book I can look it up and be reminded of what I thought of it!), I try to keep up with Twitter and Instagram. I suppose that a Smart Phone would make this much easier. Students will post hundreds of pictures a day, and it takes me an hour to frame two posts. And the memes! Memes everywhere!

So, for #throwbackthursday, here's Doris Gates' Blue Willow. Since I just read Don Brown's fabulous graphic nonfiction book, The Great American Dust Bowl, I was thinking of this title, and had no idea it was published in 1940. No wonder it is such a painfully realistic description of  The Great Depression!