Book Review: Sherlock Sam and the Sinister Letters in Bras Basah

Book: Sherlock Sam and the Sinister Letters in Bras Basah (Sherlock Sam book #3) written by A.J. Low (Adan Jimenez and Felicia Low-Jimenez) with illustrations by Andrew Tan

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: Available now

Description:

An exciting new update of the classic Sherlock Holmes detective stories in which Sherlock is a 10-year-old kid living in Singapore and Watson is his trusty robot companion!

Introducing the SHERLOCK SAM series by A.J. Low—a fresh, cross-cultural twist on the classic Sherlock Holmes stories, tailored for middle-grade readers. Set in iconic Singapore locations, the series follows the mystery-solving exploits of smart, observant, food-loving 10-year-old Samuel Tan Cher Lock (a.k.a. Sherlock Sam), Watson, his reluctant robot sidekick, and the rest of the Supper Club (a “Scooby Doo gang,” of sorts) as they prove that mysteries are best solved through teamwork.

In Sherlock Sam and the Sinister Letters in Bras Basah, our kid detective and his robot are all ready to begin studying at a new international school in Singapore. But when another student begins receiving sinister letters from an anonymous source, Sherlock Sam must use his super powers of deduction to help his new friend.



Rating: 5 stars

Review:

In Sherlock Sam and the Sinister Letters in Bras Basah, Sherlock, Watson and the Supper Club (Sherlock's sister Wendy and their friends Jimmy and Nazhar) found themselves with an interesting case.

The group along with a number of other students (such as school bully Eliza) from their school were selected to participate in a school exchange program. And for one week they were going to be attending Enterprise International School. It's a good thing since that is where Sherlock's latest case takes place. He and his mystery solving group were asked by police officer Siva to investigate who was sending his friend author Fidel Alvardo threatening letters. The letters were being placed in his son Luis' backpack while he is at school. Since the letters are addressed to Mr. Alvardo, his son didn't read them so he doesn't know that the letters also include a threat towards him as well. The police have not officially gotten involved because they are not sure if the letters are a kid's prank or something far worse which is why officer Siva asked for Sherlock's help.

Sherlock thought this was going to be a fascinating case and after getting everything sorted at their temporary new school they were ready to investigate. From speaking with Luis, Sherlock found out a little more about the situation but it wasn't until they were all invited to dinner by the Alvardos that he, Wendy and Officer Siva were able to really get a good look at the letters.

This was a tricky case because although the letters held some interesting clues there was not enough to immediately solve the case. It's going to take the group truly looking at all the evidence and suspects of the case plus a little creative thinking.

Unlike the first two books, this one had only one mystery for Sherlock, Watson and the Supper Club to solve. I like these books they're fun to read and have a good mystery with an intriguing plot. With each book someone new is added to the group, the first book had Jimmy tagging along trying to help and the second book introduced Nazhar while in this third book Eliza sort of invited herself along.

I'm really enjoying this series and hope there will be even more books to read.