Artie Conan Doyle and the Gravediggers' Club

I wanted to check this book out because I’m always looking for something new for my son and I figured since he enjoys watching Sherlock with me then he might get a kick out of this.

After reading it for myself I think he’d enjoy it. It’s a new imagination of Sherlock as if he was a kid just learning to test out his investigative skills. Like his adult counterpart he has a helpful sidekick who adds an additional level of humor.

Harris did a great job in describing and setting his scene so you could feel like you are there. His dialogue, particularly between the kids, is well thought out and realistic. It was easy to imagine Artie as the young version of the adult we’ve all come to know and love. Ham reminded me a bit of Samwise Gamgee from Lord of the Rings.

Even as an adult I liked this story and hope more will be coming out. I’m particularly looking forward to getting my son to read this so we can talk about the story. It was just very refreshing to be able to find something for my son that he can read which is both fun and has an educational tone to it by teaching kids to be more observant.

Long before he will create the world’s greatest consulting detective, Artie Conan Doyle is just a 12-year-old boy who is glad to be off school and on the hunt for adventure. Along with his friend Ham, Artie is staking out Greyfriars Kirkyard in the hope of encountering the ghostly grey lady and the massive spectral hound that are said to be stalking the graveyard at night. Artie knows that there’s definitely something uncanny afoot on the moonlit streets of Edinburgh, but will he be able to unravel his first mystery? Just who are the sinister Gravediggers’ Club and what nefarious business do they have in the city’s graveyards? Why do so many ghostly beings suddenly seem to be on the prowl? And how does the young medical student who lodges with Artie’s family fit into things?

Artie Conan Doyle and the Gravediggers’ Club is a great book that promises to be the start of a really good children’s detective series. Young Artie unsurprisingly takes on the Sherlock Holmes role in this story; he is intelligent, insightful and always on the hunt for a good mystery. He might perhaps be a little more sentimental than the great detective, but his powers of deduction are already pretty finely tuned and he’s certainly willing to dash headfirst into danger. Ham is well-suited to acting as the Watson to his friend’s Sherlock. He is a loyal companion and, while he may well prefer to spend his evenings at home eating cake, he never lets Artie down, even if that means confronting crooks, cops and potentially non-corporeal entities. The two boys form a great crime-fighting duo; Artie is clever and quick to act, while Ham is more cautious and reasoned. Discovering the secret of the Gravediggers’ Club will certainly require both their skillsets, as well as a good deal of bravery and more than a hint of luck.

I am a fan of all-things Sherlock Holmes, so anytime I hear about a new spinoff of my favorite detective series I am guaranteed to give it a try. Artie Conan Doyle and The Gravedigger's Club is the first in a new series that I'm looking forward to following. The mystery stars a young Arthur Conan Doyle (the author of the original Sherlock Holmes) as he solves mysteries around his hometown in Edinburgh. In this first adventure, Artie and his best friend Hamilton are exploring a local graveyard late at night when they spot a ghostly woman and the paw prints of a gigantic hound. Soon, they're on a quest to discover the mystery behind the two sightings, as well as the culprit of several robberies carried out by a mysterious society known as The Gravedigger's Club.

I loved that this book carried elements of some of the tales of Sherlock and Watson -- the idea being that these events in Artie's life would later influence his storytelling -- and I also loved how the story was steeped in historical detail. Though the mystery is the main focus of the plot, this also featured a theme of friendship, particularly as it relates to the hero-sidekick relationship that we see in this type of story. Recommended for middle grade readers who enjoy detective stories (and potentially a great summer reading pick)!