Artie Conan Doyle and the Scarlet Phantom

A spectre is haunting 1870s Edinburgh- the spectre of the Scarlet Phantom, an invisible thief who snatches jewels in broad daylight and walks through locked doors completely undetected!

When the Edinburgh police find themselves completely stumped, they must turn to young Artie Conan Doyle for assistance to prevent the theft of Scotland’s greatest treasure. Though it won’t be easy, young Artie has a team of tween sleuths to help get the job done: Ham, his Dr. Watson, Peril Abernathy, a whip-smart, skeptical scientist, and famous young actress Miss Rowena McCleary, the master of disguise.

This third entry in the Artie Conan Doyle Mysteries series delivers a first rate, page-turning (if straight ahead) middle grade mystery narrative with liberal doses of meta-detective fiction winks and nods likely lost on some readers but nonetheless adding depth. Readers will not feel any special deficiencies if they haven’t read the previous two titles in the series, but the relatively fast-moving plot may gloss over a few points.

A few stumbles here and there: Peril seems intended to serve as a self-sufficient feminist hero, but the conclusion robs her (somewhat) of a moment to shine by providing a relatively supporting role when the chips are down. Issues of faith also crop up in a way that felt disjointed from the overall story.

-Ted McCoy, Austin Public Library

This is a book in the Artie Conan Doyle series. Artie is an amatuer detective, who works (undercover) for the local police force to solve mysteries. At his side is his best-friend and fellow detective, Ham. Together they solve crimes that the police force can not seem to wrap their heads around. Sadly, the police get all of the credit, while Artie and Ham get none. In this story, the two are put to the task of solving the case of the Scarlet Phantom. An apparently invisible fiend, who is stealing jewels from local people in their town. While they are in fact a little mystified by the idea of an invisible assailant, Artie and Ham do not let that stop them from digging up the clues needed to solve the case. During their investigation, the two end up with a new friend and partner, Peril, who insists that the boys must stick to the scientific facts rather than rushing after some wild, fanciful idea that simply could not exist. (Insert exasperated sigh here.) Will the three daring kids crack the case or will the Scarlet Phantom disappear without a trace?????

This book was so fun to read as an adult. I am positive that kids would love it as well. There is a lot of great banter in this friend group. There are also lots of great personality quirks that really give the reader a well rounded set of characters. While there are some hard-hitting issues discussed in the book, such as the death of a parent, the abandonment of a family by a parent, and issues relating to God and religious beliefs, I believe that these are issues that most children ages 8-13 are prepared to hear about and discuss. There are also lots of great teachable moments that arise within the text, such as certain terms, ideas, and artifacts that could be researched. For that reason, I think this would be a great read aloud for classes from 3rd-6th grades. You could also use it in an independent or group novel study if you had students on the upper-end of this grade band, say grades 5th-6th. Overall, this was a fun read and I will be looking for the previous books in the series to add to my classroom book collection.