I I'm super partial to Sherlock Holmes… I just couldn't get into this book... I finished it, but I don't know that I would read the sequel to it, should there be one.

Sherlock Holmes is not the only private detective in London and if he has competition, it still remains to be seen. Arrowood and Barnett are hard press for a client and when a woman appears at their office seeking help to find her brother, the two detectives reluctantly decide to help her. Before they know it, they find the case more of a challenge than they thought. One of their potential witnesses ends up dead early on in the investigation and things get really heated after that.
Arrowood is an arrogant, silly man in many ways in my opinion. He annoyed me to no end. I have a feeling this might be the author’s goal for this character. As least I hope since I’ve been brutally honest about how I feel about him. The question is Arrowood’s characterization important for the story? There were a few times I wanted Barnett to slap him stupid. Though I have to admit his method in finding clues and questioning witnesses is an interesting one. He seemed to pride himself in being the opposite of Sherlock and had no problems in expressing that-too often in my opinion. Having said that, there were times I felt sympathy for him. Maybe just a little. If it weren’t for Barnett, the story wouldn’t hold much weight for me. I wish Sherlock had come along to shake things up.
I would like to add that I felt there were too many characters in the story. At times, it was a bit of a challenge to keep up. However, I do understand that in order for detectives to solve a case, they must interact and talk to a lot of people. Still…
The ending was satisfactory. In a nutshell, this was just an okay read for me. I expected more…
I rated this book a generous three stars.
I obtained a copy of this book from the publishers through NetGalley.
Stephanie M. Hopkins

I just can't resist reading a book that is set in the same time as Sherlock Holmes. And, the book did seem really promising with Arrowood being the poor man's Sherlock Holmes. However, I had some problems with the story. First, with Arrowood himself and his Sherlock envy. I mean his alias is Locksher and he can't seem to be able to deal with Sherlock Holmes being so popular. Several times does he rant about that. And, it was irritating, and it didn't get better as the story progressed. Thankfully his trustworthy assistant Norman Barrett saves the day. He is, in my opinion, the one that saved this story and made continue reading. Barrett is also very clever and has not the temperament that Arrowood has. Barrett may be Arrowood's Dr. Watson, but Barrett is pretty clever himself and honestly, he would probably do better on his own.

As for the story. It was not easy to get into. The first time I tried reading it did I put it away because the intro didn't grab hold of me. This time did it go better, but I did feel now and then that the story just didn't hold my interest. What kept me going is that I wanted to know the truth about the missing Frenchman and I also hoped that Sherlock Holmes would make an appearance. All and all the mystery was OK, although I had a hard time remember all the characters that showed up. And, to be honest, Arrowood isn't as clever as Holmes and without Barett would he be at a loss.

So, would I read more books in this series? Only if the author promised me that Holmes himself would be in it, otherwise I do not have much interest reading more books. This one was OK, but reading more about Arrowood isn't something that interests me much.

An original, vibrant new entry in the world of Victorian era mysteries. A must ready for fans of the genre and anyone who loves a well crafted, intelligent tale.

London Society takes their problems to Sherlock Holmes. Everyone else goes to Arrowood.

The Afghan War is over and a deal with the Irish appears to have brought an end to sectarian violence, but Britain's position in the world is uncertain and the gap between rich and poor is widening. London is a place where the wealthy party while the underclass are tempted into lives of crime, drugs and prostitution. A serial killer stalks the streets. Politicians are embroiled in financial and sexual scandals. The year is 1895.

The police don't have the resources to deal with everything that goes on in the capital. The rich turn to a celebrated private detective when they need help: Sherlock Holmes. But in densely populated south London, where the crimes are sleazier and Holmes rarely visits, people turn to Arrowood, a private investigator who despises Holmes, his wealthy clientele and his showy forensic approach to crime. Arrowood understands people, not clues.



* * * * *



I have enjoyed the Sherlock Holmes stories in the past so when I saw that the title character was another private investigator set in London during the same time frame I couldn't resist picking up this book. And I have to admit that I am glad that I did but not so much because of Arrowood.



His assistant Barnett is an interesting character that does a lot of the actual investigating because of Arrowood's physical issues. He also tends to be much more diplomatic then his boss so it's because of him that they are able to work with the police in London. Arrowood's sister Ettie is also a spitfire who is a very intelligent and strong woman. If she had been born today, Ettie might have taken over the world.



Their case was also very interesting with all of its twists and turns. They were hired to investigate one thing but when something goes wrong, it becomes personal and everything becomes much more involved.



I do think that fans of Sherlock Holmes and other period mysteries will really enjoy ARROWOOD. I know that I am looking forward to the opportunity to read the next book in the series. In fact, I have requested this series to be added to FictFact which is a wonderful free site that notifies you when the next book is coming out in a series that you follow.



*** I received this book at no charge from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions expressed within are my own.

I had really high hopes for Arrowood, I love historical mysteries. The fact that this was someone who was kind of like Sherlock Holmes and how he hated SH because he didn't like the way he did his detection that it would be a lot of fun. I just found Arrowood to be boring and I just didn't like him. I liked his partner Barrett but I just didn't find myself liking the MC and so I couldn't get into the book and by about 22% I was just bored and didn't want to go on so I didn't. I DNFed, sorry but it just wasn't for me. :(

I absolutely love the tagline of this book: London Society takes their problems to Sherlock Holmes. Everyone else goes to Arrowood.

That totally caught my eye when I was scanning Netgalley in search of new books to read this summer. An anti-Sherlock Holmes sounded refreshing and new. I have been watching the TV show Sherlock (which if you haven’t watched it, go right now to Netflix and start!) and I love the modern take on it, so I thought that something like an anti-Sherlock read would be complimentary.

The Afghan War is over and a deal with the Irish appears to have brought an end to sectarian violence, but Britain’s position in the world is uncertain and the gap between rich and poor is widening. London is a place where the wealthy party while the underclass are tempted into lives of crime, drugs and prostitution. A serial killer stalks the streets. Politicians are embroiled in financial and sexual scandals. The year is 1895.

The police don’t have the resources to deal with everything that goes on in the capital. The rich turn to a celebrated private detective when they need help: Sherlock Holmes. But in densely populated south London, where the crimes are sleazier and Holmes rarely visits, people turn to Arrowood, a private investigator who despises Holmes, his wealthy clientele and his showy forensic approach to crime. Arrowood understands people, not clues (summary from Goodreads).


This was an interesting one and not what I was expecting at all. It was much darker and gritter than I thought it was going to be. I mean yes, it’s an anti-Sherlock novel but I expected Arrowood to at least be somewhat likable! I could never really warm up to him at all. I don’t know that I ever really liked him in any way shape or form. In fact I felt like his assistant did most of the work while he took the credit. I felt like the novel should have been called Barnett.

The mystery itself was ok, it did drag on for a little too long in my opinion but I liked the gritty, darker parts of the mystery just fine. I think the book itself had all the right ingredients but the mixture just didn’t develop into a masterpiece. It’s like someone left out the yeast to make the story rise. Everything was there to make it really really good, but something critical was missing and for me that was a likable, charismatic main character.

The summary made it sound a lot more exciting than it turned out to be. It was ok, but not an overly engaging mystery which made me sad. I had really hoped to like this one but I just didn’t. I have read a lot of other reviews on this one and I seem to be in the minority. Everyone else seems to really like it, but for me it was a complete miss. I would have rated it one star but I did like Barnett and I liked some parts of the mystery, plus I did keep reading the book for quite a while so there was clearly something that kept me reading. If I had really disliked it, then I would have moved it to DNF, but I didn’t, I kept plugging away. So I figured it at least deserved two stars.

Challenge/Book Summary:

Book: Arrowood by Mick Finlay

Kindle Edition, 336 pages
Expected publication: August 1st 2017 by MIRA
ASIN B01N2JL2WO
Review copy provided by: Author/Publisher in exchange for an honest review.
This book counts toward: NA

Hosted by: NA
Books for Challenge Completed: NA
Recommendation: 2 out of 5

Genre: historical fiction, detective novel, gaslight fiction, mystery, thriller

Memorable lines/quotes:

Review featured at www.books-n-kisses.com

There is one phrase I kept thinking while reading this book “a poor man’s Sherlock”. As a fan of Sherlock Holmes I guess I should have realized I would have a hard time not comparing the characters. But I have to say the tag line caught me “London Society takes their problems to Sherlock Holmes. Everyone else goes to Arrowood.” I mean come on any fan of Holmes and Watson would fall for this line.

I think the story was ok. Nothing more, nothing less. Not sure I will be picking up the next in the series.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

William Arrowood hates Sherlock Holmes. The damned man is on everyone’s lips as the best detective of the age. Arrowood would argue (and does, repeatedly) that Holmes is sloppy and relies too much on physical evidence rather than witness statements and lies. In Arrowood, by Mick Finlay, we see a better argument for Arrowood’s superiority (or not) as the detective and his partner, Norman Barnett, track down a missing Frenchman and unravel a criminal conspiracy.

Arrowood begins in classic mystery fashion when a beautiful woman walks into the detective’s consulting room and pursues him to take her case. Miss Cousture’s brother has disappeared. The evidence suggests that he fled back to the sibling’s homeland, France. Arrowood is reluctant, even when she presses him with some much needed coin, but accepts the case only when he learns that the brother works for an old enemy. Mr. Cream was responsible for a death in Arrowood’s last big case. This new case offers the detective a way to take the villain down.

Arrowood is the kind of detective who can read lies in facial expressions and discover clues in omissions. His people skills can get witness and suspects to reveal much more than they meant. He hardly has to stir from his rooms above a bakery to gather information. His style of detecting is enabled by his partner, Barnett. Barnett does all the legwork and is frequently beaten by suspects—which is a useful, if painful way, of learning that they are on the right track. Barnett is also our narrator, so we solve the mystery along with him for the most part. Thankfully, Barnett is not an idiot the way Dr. Watson is portrayed in many of the Holmes’ stories; he just misses tiny clues that Arrowood can pick up on.

While we rarely see Holmes mess up, Arrowood and Barnett make mistake after mistake. Their history with the London Metropolitan Police means that the pair have almost no support as they barge into dangerous situation after dangerous situation. When Holmes does make a mistake, is usually because he’s been temporary outsmarted by a worthy adversary. When Arrowood screws up, its because of bad luck or because the villains are more vicious than anticipated.

I enjoyed the well-constructed mystery at the center of this novel and I particularly enjoyed Arrowood’s soliloquies about Holmes. I’m not sure I’ll follow the series, however. Apart from Arrowood’s potshots at Holmes, I didn’t love this novel. It’s a solid novel, but it didn’t thrill me.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration. It will be released 18 July 2017.

I hope this becomes a series. The book has a great premise and it's well written with fully drawn characters. Arrowood is the detective for the underworld of London. The rich go to Sherlock Holmes (that attention grabbing celebrity) and everyone else goes to Arrowood. Mick Finlay has written an utterly compelling mystery.

I did not clicked with this book and I decided I will not review it. I do not want to mess the ratings based on personal preferences since I've seen a lot of people liking this book. I am sorry I could not clicked with the characters and story since I was sincerely interested in the plot.

I don't usually read this genre, but the tagline on the cover intrigued me. I was glad I requested it as this book was one of the best I have read this year. I really hope that someone is working on the movie rights cause I want to see this story make it to the big screen.

Who knew Sherlock Holmes was such a snob? London, 1895 is a bad time and place to be poor and defenseless. There aren’t enough coppers and crime bosses are running the city. People in the more affluent areas of the city turn to Sherlock Holmes for help. But in the borough of Southwark,residents turn to Arrowood, a man who makes no effort to hide his hatred of Holmes. Arrowood like his alcohol and his detecting and psychiatric learning may be self-taught, but he knows a think or two about this downtrodden section of London. Holmes may have Watson, but Arrowood has Barnett and the two of them are tracking down a vicious killer and notorious gang lord. There is nothing light-hearted in Finlay’s book; it’s as dark and murky as a London alleyway, but a hell of a lot more fun