This was a really fun read, and it continually kept me on my toes as Neverland seeped through all of these characters!

I was intrigued when I heard that this is the story of Mary Darling (Wendy, John, and Michael's mother). It takes place when the children go to Neverland with Peter, but we stay in London with Mary as she sets out on a journey not only to find her children, but to find herself as well. I felt that Victorian England was the perfect backdrop to explore women's roles in society and it felt very seamlessly woven in rather than feeling like an in-your-face-feminist book. I liked the added layer of Mary's uncle being John Watson (which allows Sherlock Holmes to enter the investigation of the missing children, determined to find a logical reason for their disappearance that doesn't involve magical worlds). The writing style was entertaining - very self aware of the story this is telling - and overall I had a really fun time getting to explore all the characters and their backstories! I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for Pat Murphy's work now that she's on my radar!

I received an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is an incredibly intelligent and crossover. Even though aspects of it bothered me, it was overall an excellent read..

The combination of Sherlock Holmes and Peter Pan is unique and well-done. Mary Darling is a great heroine who will go to the ends of the Earth to save her children, and the story has some unforgettable new characters as well such as Sam Smalls and Ruby. The critique of Sherlock Holmes is pretty unforgiving but mostly true to his character, while the portrayal of Peter Pan as a villain flips the traditional Captain Hook story on its head a la Wicked.

Still, this wasn’t quite a five-star read for me. It was sometimes too far-fetched even for a fantasy story (George Darling in a dog kennel? Everyone has a secret past and they’re ALL connected?). Additionally, the breakings of the fourth wall/info dumps were sometimes too heavy-handed, with big perspective shifts. I also felt the book’s portrayal of prostitution was too rosy. Yet I enjoyed learning more about history, and this story’s heart is in the right place with its postcolonial and feminist aims.

Even knowing how the story would end, I didn’t want to put this book down because it was that compelling.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tachyon for the free eARC. I post this review with my honest opinions. This review is cross-posted on Goodreads and will be posted on Amazon upon the book’s publication.

Content notes: kidnapped children, mentions of death (including the deaths of children) and genocide, sword fights and violence, mentions of brothels and prostitution, mentions of cruelty in the guise of mental health treatment, a man who dresses as a woman bathes naked near an unrelated girl who is also bathing (which is creepy regardless of what gender the man identifies as)

The Peter Pan/Sherlock Holmes mash-up I didn't know I needed.

I'm a big fan of taking old stories - especially well-loved ones - and either putting women in, or re-telling the women's stories to give them more agency, or just flat-out actually making them a character rather than sexy (or maternal) lampshades. Here, Murphy gives life to Mary Darling: wife to George, mother to Wendy, John, and Michael - and previous inhabitant of Neverland, courtesy of Peter Pan. She grew up in Cooktown, Qld; is the niece of Dr John Watson; and is generally awesome.

The story is partly Mary's story, as she goes off to find her own children - recognising all the signs, as she does, of a Peter Pan abduction - and partly Watson's story, as he (along with Holmes) follow in Mary's wake to try and find Neverland. Along the way there are adventures, including other Victorian lady adventurers, and brothel-keepers, and several pirates. There's also flashbacks to Mary's childhood, as well as to the experiences of various members of the party: Sam, a South-Sea Islander friend from Mary's childhood; some of the pirates; the people who become known as Princess Tiger-Lily and her family; and George Darling himself.

Murphy has made Barrie's (and Conan Doyle's) much richer by restoring the women and people of colour who would really have existed in London, let alone the rest of the world, to the story. She's also written a zippy tale of adventure and family and identity that kept me completely enthralled.

Holmes does not come out of this story very well. Nor does Peter Pan. I was naturally reminded of AC Wise's Wendy, Darling, which is a very different book but likewise asks questions about exactly who, or what, Peter Pan could possibly be.

This was brilliant. Loved all of it.

I am a huge fan of twisted fairytales, and I love it even more when protagonists who are objectively not great people (good characters sometimes, but not necessarily good people) aren't depicted as heroes in the retelling. I also really like it when the 'hidden' part of the story is explored, like Mary Darling and how she would have dealt with the disappearance of her children. Pat Murphy does a great job of bringing to the forefront of the story characters that were (or could have been) in the background of the story but ignored in favor of Peter as the hero. I enjoyed this book immensely.

some of the connections were fun, some were a little farfetched and some were kinda pretentious
unique retelling of two famous works and overall a quick little classic children literary jaunt

As warm and nostalgic as Cocoa with your Grandmother and as exciting as your first road trip with friends.

I adored this book. Mary Darling is my new hero and I actually want more of her adventures. It often put me in mind of the Goonies, adventures are all very well and good in theory, but in reality are cold, wet, hungry and far more uncomfortable than you think. The myth of Peter Pan is also far darker then Disney led us to believe. Adding Sherlock into the mix made me nervous because he is also a beloved character from my literary life and I was concerned that he would be some kind of Pink Patheresque fool that would change my perception of him, but Murphy did a wonderful job of staying true to Conan Doyle's most beloved (and loathed if rumours are to be believed) character while bringing a new insight and depth to both Watson and Holmes that was both brilliant and believable.

Sam is a wonderful character whom I would love to know more about and the author handled the sensitive cultural and political aspects of BIPOC characters quite well without glossing over or shying away from uncomfortable truths. Every character was well developed and 3 dimensional and so well realised that I found myself wanting to travel their paths as well, my hope is the author plans to pave some of those paths in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley, Tachyon Publishing and Pat Murphy for providing me with a free copy of this book. The views above are entirely my own and freely given.

In theory, a Sherlock Holmes x Peter Pan crossover should be incredible. I should be excited to open the book/my ereader every time I continue reading it. I should love Mary Darling.

Unfortunately, I don't. This book feels unedited at points, and somehow repetitive without lines or plot points being repeated over and over. In general, just a slog to read through, which is why I dnf-ed it at 37%. I didn't care for the entire Sherlock Holmes-part of the novel up until that point, and the Mary/Marty-portion of it came very short so far.


@NetGalley and Tachyon Publications: Thank you guys for the ARC!

My first book of the year and it was a great start I devoured this in two days. Who is Peter Pan? What is Peter Pan? Nobody ever questioned the existence or being that is Peter Pan. This story goes into the adventures of Mary Darling the mother of Wendy, John and Michael Darling who are whisked off to Neverland by Peter Pan in the novels. Their mother Mary had her own past with Peter and this is her story. We also get Dr. John Watson and Sherlock Holmes in this novel which always makes me happy. I was swept away and every bit of this story was enjoyable from beginning to end.

Adored! Such a fun reimagining. I was pulled in from the first page to the last. I love a historical mystery, and this did not disappoint. I especially liked reading a POV of an older woman and mother (being a mother myself). Completely refreshing.

Lois Johnston
36 reviews
January 3, 2025
I really enjoyed this book, I had received this book as an advanced reading copy and am really happy I did. It had all the right things to catch and keep my attention. Mystery, fantasy and an excellent plot. From the first page to the last page it was a great read

Think Sherlock Holmes + Peter Pan, with brave mother Mary Darling leading the investigation into her missing children. Mary is a heroine for the Victorian ages while Sherlock plays second fiddle because he's just not up to her sleuthing excellence. Such fun!

2,5 stars
I was very excited for the premise of this book, but unfortunately the excecution fell a little flat for me. The story really excelled when we got to follow Mary on her journey, and it is very obvious that the author has done a ton of research to flesh out the world.
But for me the start dragged a lot. Connecting the story of Peter Pan with Sherlock Holmes did not work for me, and all of the random connections between many of the characters felt a bit forced. I was past the 100 page mark before I really felt like I was getting the story I was hoping for, and I would have loved to spend more time in this part of the story, because I really liked to read about this version of Neverland.
As for the language, I much prefer it when more is left up to the readers interpretation and not spelled out. The description of Sherlock Holmes´ actions should be enough for you to understand his character without the author having to explain it to us as well, and a few of the info dumps about victorian society felt unecessary and like an unmotivated breaking of the fourth wall.

Wonderful twist on the original story. Loved the ideas, as well as the historical items tied into the piece. Self defense classes for women have been around for a long time. Too bad we need them!

Here's a Victorian mix of the worlds of Peter Pan and Sherlock Holmes, with a feminist perspective. The heroine here is Mary Darling, who is the niece of Dr. Watson in this pastiche. Her three children have been abducted from under the nose of their canine nanny, and of course she must seek them. The tropes are set on their heads as Sherlock is not very bright, Mary is savvy, and she recruits many of the female characters of various backgrounds to aid her along the way.

I enjoyed the book, and think it will be a bit of a tongue-in-cheek romp for people used to seeing a bit of the period patriarchy subverted. Generally light reading, but a little heavy-handed sometimes.

Technically this was a well done book. It was smart and witty with an interesting premise but I had just had some difficulty getting into the story of it. I think it just wasn’t a book for me but I would recommend this to people who do enjoy more mysteries like this one! I’m still so happy I got to read this one!

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The story of the Darling kids in Neverland with Peter Pan has been oft-told and retold, but what happened back in London when their parents find them missing? What kind of parents have a dog as a nanny? How would Sherlock Holmes react to everyone around him flying, encountering fairies, etc.? All of these questions are answered in a novel that has a great elevator pitch (Peter Pan + Sherlock Holmes = ???), but Murphy's execution of it is uneven at times and at the end I'm left with more questions than answers.

For some reason I always pictured Neverland as existing on another planet ("Second star to the right", I guess), but this novel places it somewhere off the coast of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Murphy draws from Barrie's original tale moreso than the subsequent, more family-friendly, retellings, which means that the mermaids are malignant creatures luring humans to their deaths for sport, the fairies are haughty sprites, the lost boys are malnourished kidnap-victims, and Peter Pan is the worst of all: some sort of spirit in the body of a perpetually-young boy who kidnaps children, forces them to commit murder on a whim, and then replaces them when they are eventually murdered with other young boys who he bequeaths with identical names (we meet at least three "Tootles"-es in this story alone).

I found this adaptation of the source material fascinating and dark, but this is also a Sherlock Holmes pastiche. Mary Darling (the mother of Wendy, Michael, and John) is the niece of John Watson, so when the children go missing she and her husband George enlist the help of legendary detective Sherlock Holmes, who is underused and portrayed as if not bumbling then definitely willfully ignorant and unhelpful.

It's quickly revealed that both Mary and her husband had been whisked away by Pan as children themselves, which begs the first question: why would they have involved Holmes at all? George spends the first half of the book as a blubbering fool while Mary makes her plans to go rescue the children herself, so why was a detective or the police involved when they both immediately knew what had happened to the kids as soon as they came into the room with the window open, all three kids missing, and no footprints in the snow outside? It felt like a fairly-major inconsistency, just for the sake of getting Holmes into the story.

Then there's the ending, which I won't spoil but let's just say felt very rushed. There's some great stuff in here about the origin story of Captain Hook, but the final encounter between all parties felt dashed off after so much buildup.

All in all, this is an interesting concept that ultimately left me a bit unsatisfied. I waffled quite a bit between 3 and 4 stars, but I had to round up just for the worldbuilding. If you enjoy Victorian-era adventure stories with literary characters, you may enjoy this one as well, but if you're looking for more of a Sherlock Holmes pastiche where he investigates and solves a case, this one is not for you.

Love the premise, and the fact that the Watson character was so involved. I never would have imagined that the worlds of Peter Pan and Sherlock Holmes could be so expertly combined. The character of Sam was a wonderful addition, and the resolution was perfect.

This was fun! Not in a light-hearted and cheerful way, but in a clever and smart one. I really liked Mary - she was complex and real and resonant in a way that she has never been in any previous book, play or movie I have seen. I understand that Barrie"s original Mary is a product of her time (as he was), but as a mother myself I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the strength of motherhood play out in her quest to find her children. Even though the actual rescue felt a little rushed, the journey to get there was fabulous and original and engaging.

I also really enjoyed the supporting cast in this one, particularly Sam and John Watson. In many ways they were much more significant players than Sherlock and it felt to me like the dichotomy between Sherlock and Mary was oversold in both blurb and cover (Sherlock felt like a minor player at best here).

On the whole I enjoyed this - it was a cool spin on a classic tale with a lot of fair original elements that made it entirely its own story.

Excellent pastiche of the Peter Pan and Sherlock Holmes worlds by a fine Science Fiction/fantasy author, Pat Murphy. I thoroughly enjoyed this tale from the point of view of the Darling children’s mother, Mary Darling and as a reader of Sherlock Holmes stories of all kinds was amused by the less-than-flattering portrayal here. This novel had a very Victorian setting and style which was enjoyable to me also. I hope there will be more in this style and about these characters in the future.

Thanks to #netgalley and the publisher, #tachyonpublications for this ebook ARC to read. All opinions are my own.

3.5/5

This was an incredibly unique way to write a retelling/inspired story. I genuinely can't say I've read another retelling/inspired story like this one, from unlikely perspectives and a combinations of source materials.

The gist of this story is that it is a Peter Pan and Sherlock Holmes retelling. Mary Darling (the mother of Michael, John and Wendy - the children from the classic, Peter Pan) discovers that her children are missing and enlists the help of Sherlock Holmes to find her children.

Something about this writing style made it so easy to read (and to read quickly). But at some times it did feel a bit dragging. But it wasn't too bad, it never made me put down the book or let me get distracted.

If you're looking for a unique retelling that still holds the feel of the classic, I would recommend this. (Especially if you like mysteries.)

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.