The Case of the Racehorse Ringer (Baker Street Boys)

by Anthony Read

Seventh in a thrilling, fast-paced adventure series about Sherlock Holmes's gang of street-urchin detectives.

There’s been a murder at the racing stables and Gertie’s father, Patrick, stands accused. The punishment is death by hanging, and Gertie is beside herself. She knows her father didn’t do it, but with Sherlock Holmes away, how can she prove his innocence? Wiggins suspects an inside job and sends Sparrow in to do some digging around. Undercover as the new stable lad, Sparrow finds himself mixing with some decidedly shady characters – and then he stumbles upon an audacious betting scam that puts a valuable racehorse in danger. Now there are two lives for the Baker Street Boys to save, and time is not on their side. The race is on!

• ISBN10: 1406342424
• ISBN13: 9781406342420
• Publish Date: 5 April 2012
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Walker Books Ltd
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Language: English

Reviews

I read all of the Baker Street Boys books a couple of years ago but I was excited to find them in ebook at my local library. Although I am a little disappointed I can't find them on Amazon but anyway. So I'm rereading and they're just as great as I remember.

They're lighthearted sweet little mysteries filled with great characters and interesting plots. Wiggins and the gang are hilarious - from Wiggins imitation of Holmes, Gertie's insistence of being one of the boys, Queenie's obsession with the Queen, Shiner's love of trains, Sparrow's love of theatre, Rosie's super nose and Beaver's desire to be the Watson to Wiggin's Holmes. All of the gang actively contribute to the investigations and help to solve the mysteries and it's nice to see each member play a role and demonstrate their own expertise. Not everyone is good at everything - but they're all good at something.

The last book of the series starts off with this quote;
"I wish all Holmesian pastiche could be as honest, as knowledgeable, as enthusiastic and as well written - in short, as good - as these children's books."
The Sherlock Holmes Society of London

And I think that really sums up the series perfectly. I'm sad that this is the last book of the series - hopefully one day, Anthony Read may write more. I will certainly read them if he does. As the last book I would've liked to see more of all of the boys rather than just Wiggins, Sparrow and Gertie. But it was an interesting mystery and I'm sad to be finished my reread.