Sherlock Holmes The Case of the Cracked Mirror Review

Reviewed by Sallie Greenhalgh

I was eager to read this book as I am a great fan of mystery novels and of Sherlock Holmes in particular. When I began to read I was a little unsure as I found it hard to get into the book – I felt that some of the dialogue was not what I would have expected Holmes to say. As it is a short story (which I hadn’t appreciated initially) the pace is fast – almost a little too fast at times as deductions are made without any explanation and despite the fact that Sherlock Holmes is obviously capable of amazing leaps of intellect I would expect the reader to get an explanation as to why something was the case.

Very quickly Holmes and Watson arrive in Paris and as I was reading I began to recognise names and locations. It took me a few more pages but I realised that this was basically a retelling of the Phantom of the Opera and the characters and story were not original. I was left feeling a little cheated at this point – maybe if you haven’t seen Phantom then you would be able to enjoy the book as you are not necessarily aware of what happens. However I couldn’t shake the fact that I already knew this story and Sherlock Holmes was not a part of it!

Despite being personally unconvinced by this particular book I would like to read more Sherlock Holmes books by this author as I think she has a lot of good things to say and if I didn’t already know what was going to happen I would be able to enjoy the story far more.

Rating: 3/5

Available to buy as an eBook from Amazon here.

For more information about the author and other titles by Pennie Mae Cartawick including Sherlock Holmes stories and books on health and diet visit www.penniemaecartawick.wordpress.com.