The Great Shelby Holmes: Girl Detective

by Elizabeth Eulberg

Matt Robertson (Illustrator)

Shelby Holmes is not your average nine-year-old. For one, she happens to be the best detective her neighbourhood has ever seen, using her uncanny analytical mind and sassy attitude to solve crimes which stump even the police department.

But when eleven-year-old John Watson moves in to her block of flats, Shelby finds a solution to the one puzzle that's eluded her up until now: friendship.

This dynamic duo find themselves swept up in a dog-napping case that'll take both their talents to crack.

• ISBN10: 1408871483
• ISBN13: 9781408871485
• Publish Date: 12 January 2017 (first published 6 September 2016)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
• Imprint: Bloomsbury Childrens Books
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 224
• Language: English
• URL: http://bloomsbury.com/

Reviews

[Berls]

I do not read much middle grade - I tend to be YA and up. But this one was strongly recommended and I got a copy for free so why not, right? It's short and will be a fast read.

Glad I went for it. The Great Shelby Homes was seriously cute and I could really see a middle grade reader enjoying it. The characters are relateable and the mystery was fun. Yes, I solved it super fast but I'm an adult reader and the mystery wasn't meant for my age bracket. I think the right age group would have a tougher time solving it, while still being able to, making it that much more fun for them.

Shelby is definitely Gifted and Talented and I love that she came with so many of the, sometimes annoying, eccentricities that can entail. And I loved that John Watson (who goes by Watson due to Shelby renaming him basically) struggled with finding her interesting but annoying, and realizing they could be friends just the same. He saw through some of her eccentricities and saw a girl who didn't have friends but could actually be a good friend. But it took him a minute to get there and to see her overtures of friendship. I thought that made this a particularly good book for kids, hopefully they could learn how to approach friendship with some "annoying" or "weird" kids from John.

I will probably eventually read more of the series. I might even consider reading this series to my Kinders. I don't think it's too advanced for them to understand and relate to -- and it would yield some good discussions about friendship too.

[limabean74]

I received this book at BEA and even got to meet the author and have her sign my book. I was so excited about this and couldn’t wait to read it. I love a good story about Holmes and Watson. This book was just amazing. I LOVED the characters and the story was so engrossing that I read the entire book in a day.

John Watson is an army brat, he moves from place to place but his mom is finally on permenant leave and they settled down in NYC. The apartment they live in has an unusual girl that lives upstairs. John doesn’t know what to make of her but winds up hanging out with her while she sort of shows him around town. When Holmes gets a new case to solve regarding a lost dog, it’s up to her and Watson to find out who did it.

I honestly loved Shelby, her sarcastic comments and ability to super sleuth was so fun and amazing. She was just such a fun characters. The story is told in John’s POV but I couldn’t help but love him to. The poor kid was so confused half the time and always trying to figure out who did it which really helped keep the reader confused. I really enjoyed how the mystery was solved and all the clues Shelby had figured out. This really was a fun book to read.

I can’t recommend this book enough, I honestly want a lot more of Shelby and John. They are amazing characters and the story was so involved but so fun. This is a great book for MG, YA and adults. I can’t love this book enough and so very happy I got that chance to read it and to meet the author at BEA. This is what I am, kind of hoping, is the start of a fun series.

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This review was originally posted on Because reading is better than real life