Arrowood--Sherlock Holmes Has Met His Match

April 17, 2017
Finlay does a good job of creating a plausible alternative to Sherlock Holmes in his first novel and series debut. In London in 1895, photographer Caroline Cousture, a French woman, turns to Arrowood because she can’t afford Holmes’s fees. Her brother, Thierry, has vanished after being accused of stealing from the bakery where he worked. Though Arrowood suspects her of lying, he accepts the case, only to find that it reawakens some painful and dangerous memories. Arrowood was once a successful reporter before he lost his job to a relative of the new owner of his paper. His reputation for muckraking led to a career as a detective and an eventual partnership with former law clerk Norman Barnett. Their first joint inquiry, into a suspected bigamy, ended disastrously, with an innocent man losing his life. Arrowood took to the bottle, causing his wife to leave him. Finlay’s characterizations are better developed than in some similar series, such as Will Thomas’s Barker and Llewelyn mysteries (Hell Bay, etc.). Agent: Jo Unwin, Jo Unwin Literary Agency (U.K.).

May 15, 2017
Finlay debuts with a tale built on a wonderful premise: a downscale Sherlock Holmes for the rest of us.Just like everyone else in 1895 London, French photographer Caroline Cousture would love to hire Holmes to investigate the disappearance of her brother, a pastry cook who's gone missing from the Barrel of Beef, the chophouse where he found employment. But, unable to afford Holmes' presumably stratospheric prices--though his clients are rarely shown actually paying him--she has to settle for ex-journalist William Arrowood. In some ways it's an excellent choice. Arrowood is obsessed with his great rival; he can expound on every limitation and logical fallacy in A Study in Scarlet and "A Scandal in Bohemia." In other ways, Caroline's choice is less fortunate. Arrowood, who declares to his client and his amanuensis, Norman Barnett, that he's "an emotional agent, not a deductive agent," isn't much of a detective at all. His first interview, with a barmaid Thierry Cousture had befriended at the Barrel of Beef, gets the poor girl killed, and Neddy, the likable neighborhood 10-year-old who does his legwork, gets kidnapped twice, the second time from under Barnett's nose. Even worse, Arrowood's sleuthing skills, at least in this first recorded case, seem limited to antagonizing Inspector Petleigh, repeatedly butting heads with Stanley Cream, who owns the Barrel of Beef, and calling in an expert to identify the bullet the dead barmaid was clutching in her hand. But Finlay has a fine time recasting the friendship between Holmes and Watson, as Arrowood and Barnett repeatedly quarrel, swap obscenities and threats, and pummel each other. A great concept worked out with more grit than inspiration. The inevitable franchise has already been optioned for television, a medium you can only hope will hang on to the best bits here and toss out the rest.

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June 1, 2017

While the wealthy turn to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson for help when the police fail them, the working class relies on investigative agent William Arrowood and assistant Norman Barnett. Arrowood resents Holmes's fame and insists he can read people better than the celebrated sleuth. In South London in 1895, Arrowood hasn't had a case in weeks, so he agrees to find Caroline Consture's missing brother. When he and Barnett learn Caroline's brother disappeared while working for the notorious Mr. Cream, they regret that decision. Witnesses are murdered when they're involved with the man. The case is so convoluted that Barnett admits, "Sometimes I lose sight of the case"; readers may become confused as well. VERDICT Unfortunately, the plot of Finlay's debut mystery gets lost within the tangle of various police, criminal, and political groups. Still, fans of Sherlock Holmes might appreciate an alternate view of Victorian London from the perspective of people struggling to survive. [Optioned for television.]--LH

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2017
South London's Bermondsey and its fiercely edgy detective, William Arrowood, possess little to recommend themselves in comparison to the more famous deductive expert, Sherlock Holmes, and his more sophisticated Westminster. Still, Arrowood, an emotional agent who sees into souls, is the best Bermondsey can offer. He and his assistant, Barnett, accept a missing-persons case, although they know the (lovely) client is lying (of course) and that inevitably they will seek clues from a crime boss they wish they didn't know personally. Layers upon layers later, when all is very nearly lost, only Arrowood's pugnacious tenacity can ferret out the truth. Finlay captures the filth, frustration, and dark humor of the Victorian-era slum, plopping the reader into the story among the odoriferous, life-encrusted characters with a realism decidedly un-Sherlockian. Still, the tropes are similar, and Doyle's fans will be entertained. While waiting for the next installment, why not hang out with cranky, intimidating Cyrus Barker in Will Thomas' mysteries (Some Danger Involved, 2004) and the psychically astute Nine-Nails McGray in Oscar de Muriel's Frey and McGray series (The Strings of Murder, 2016)?(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)