Be a Detective Like Sherlock Holmes
The Schoolboy Sherlock Holmes
5 books containing 13 mysteries starring a very young schoolboy with a fascination for Sherlock Holmes
“Cliff-hanging tales and subliminal lessons for young readers. Your books will encourage youngsters to read the original Conan Doyle stories.” Classic Specialities
In Book 1 meet Nicholas Twit who is almost 11. His Aunt Poppy introduces him to old black and white movies. Nick watches The Hound of the Baskervilles and is hooked. Nick turns his bedroom into the sitting room at 221B Baker Street. Nick’s a whiz with computers. Can you spot the code behind his picture? Nick helps the elderly couple next door who know nothing about software. Mr and Mrs Basket think the boy is wonderful and when he tells them he wants to be a detective like Sherlock Holmes, the old folk form a detective agency called Basket Case Investigations with Nick as their man in the field. Oh bliss, Nick is now the Schoolboy Sherlock Holmes. But will his ‘cases’ be dangerous and exciting? At the beginning, yes. Nick has a hit with his first case. Even the police are impressed with female Detective Les Trade a big fan of the young boy. But then trouble arrives with a capital T. A girl, Felicity, 14, clashes with Nick. The only solution is to make her Dr. Watson. Oh no. Will they survive? On with the adventures.
“I love The Schoolboy Sherlock Holmes’ Mysteries. I think they are mlurp. I am up to your third mystery and can’t wait until your next book.” Jack, 10, Yarrunga PS
In Book 2 Nick and Mr Basket head off to Walhalla the old gold-mining town in the bush. Nick wakes up and on a moonlit night sees a couple carrying something heavy into the town cemetery. Is it a body? Then a jogger races into view. Who goes jogging at 2am? Some locals hear ghostly sounds. Nicholas discovers a mystery that happened 100 years ago and solves two cases in the one day. Back in town, Nick and Flick [that’s Nicholas and Felicity] visit a lady with 200 garden gnomes. Some have been damaged. There are even two gnomes which look like the great detective – it’s Sherlock Gnomes! Felicity discovers a young girl sewing clothes in her home for a pittance. Nicholas discovers a mother and son who rescue garden gnomes and set them free. But one of the gnomes has something valuable hidden inside. The crook who robs the workers sewing clothes and the crook who hid something inside a gnome are very strange. What’s inside the gnome and what does Felicity do with the crook’s money?
“I was amazed at how well you captured Walhalla. There are so many historic and descriptive details. I will place The Schoolboy Sherlock Holmes’ Mysteries in our library so others may enjoy reading them.” Walhalla Historical League
“Nick Twit’s use of Holmes’ techniques makes perfect sense in these tales of 21st century Australia; it all reminds me of Terrance Dicks’ excellent Baker Street Irregulars novels, which can only be good. And there are puzzles and Sherlockian Snippets to keep the reader, of whatever age, interested.” The Sherlock Holmes Society of London
In Book 3 Nicholas gets to use his special code. I am the fat goose, or GOOSE for short, is an anagram of The game is afoot. This is a famous Sherlock saying. Nick sends Flick a one word message – GOOSE. Their new mystery involves a rogue painter who rips off an old lady, and a woman wearing white clothes in a white house with white walls and white furniture. She steals trash. Rubbish? The young detectives help the old lady and Felicity solves the case. But with the Mystery of the Terrible Twins, Nicholas knows that Mr Holmes had a model of his head placed in the window to fool criminals so Nick unravelled the case of the cheating twins. Finally Nicholas meets Ned Kelly the famous outlaw. People today collect Ned Kelly stuff and some do crazy things to find new items. Nick is in the middle of a war, when two Kelly fans start a pitched battle using Kelly items as weapons. Will the ghost of Ned Kelly come back to haunt the crooks? And how does Nicholas fool the experts with his brilliant forgery?
“The Schoolboy Sherlock Holmes’ Mysteries are so much in demand that boys are on a waiting list and we are very keen to obtain the fourth book.” Willington School, London
“Thank you for sharing the delights of The Schoolboy Sherlock Holmes’ Mysteries. Please come back.” Goldfields Library
In Book 4 Nicholas meets Primrose Perkins and Mitzi Glam. They’re both over-the-top actresses who are mad about Charles Dickens. Primrose keeps calling for Mr. Dick and Mitzi has a rotten wedding cake with cobwebs on her dining-room table. Felicity has her own problems when her father is arrested because his girlfriend’s missing possibly murdered. The climax takes place at Luna Park, the fun park with many rides including the Ghost Train.
Then Nicholas gets caught out at the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground home to the Olympic Games. There’s a huge crowd at the ground and a man with a bomb. A visiting cricketing dignitary from the sub-continent, Mr. Quickrunnasingle is in danger. Nick helps a young boy help his father who has a mental illness. And finally the detectives face a ghost of a mystery. There’s no such thing as a ghost but Nick meets the next best thing.
“Your MCG Bomb Mystery story is great. It’s a fabulous idea to turn someone who is more traditionally seen as a villain into a hero—such a refreshing change.” Schizophrenia Australia Foundation
“Dear Cenarth how do you come up with so many mysteries? I’m only ten and I only finished your first book this morning I read it in 2 days. t is great.” Callum
“The Schoolboy Sherlock Holmes’ Mysteries arrived and the children in my son’s class are loving them; not to mention that my son is now dead popular for providing something they actually look forward to reading.” Lorraine S, Queensland parent
An excerpt from Book 4 appears in the French text TEEN TIME 5e, a method of teaching English to French secondary students.
In Book 5 Felicity interviews Mrs. Mallet who has seen a moving light in her neighbour’s hedge at 2 o’clock in the morning. Then Nicholas learns that a famous spiritualist called Sir Arthur Conan Doyle came to Melbourne a long time ago and told people about ghosts. Flick is trapped when she investigates the moving light and Nick uses a metal-detector in a vegetable patch to look for something really strange. There are spies and secret codes and danger for both the young detectives. Which case is more important? The second mystery is amazingly a tale about the real Sherlock Holmes. The case is The Tallest Woman in the World set in a carnival in England more than 100 years ago. See how the world’s greatest detective solves mysteries. Finally, mystery number 13, sees Nick and the Baskets going for a picnic. Nicholas is suddenly in danger. Can he survive? Is this the end for the Schoolboy Sherlock Holmes?
Finally, mystery number 13, sees Nick and the Baskets going for a picnic. Nicholas is suddenly in danger. Can he survive? Is this the end for the Schoolboy Sherlock Holmes?
As well as the mysteries, the books contain new words called Twit Speak, word games and puzzles, mini mysteries, illustrations plus Sherlockian Snippets. These snippets are titbits of fascinating information about Sherlock Holmes. The page numbers of the books are in a magnifying glass and the illustrations are full of details.
“You told me The Schoolboy Sherlock Holmes’ Mysteries were suitable for young readers. I loved them and I’m 75.” Joe Cooper, Heathcote
Available as both printed books and eBooks from Fox Plays. Available as eBooks from Amazon.
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