The 100-Year-Old Secret: The Sherlock Files Book One

This book is terrific! Mystery, adventure, history, and lots of fun characters. I can usually solve the mystery fairly early, but this one had me hooked to the end. I look forward to Barrett's next mystery!

Xena and Xander Holmes have just discovered that related to Sherlock Holmes and have inherited his unsolved casebook! They set out to solve the cases their famous ancestor could not. They start with a mystery of a prized painting that vanished more than a hundred years ago. Can two smart modern day kids succeed where Sherlock Holmes could not? Follow the clues as the case unravels and see if you can figure out the mystery. Children who have enjoyed Nancy Drew and Hardy boys should look into this promising new series. The book may lead them to read the classic Holmes stories as well!

My daughter who is ten loves mysteries and she really enjoyed this book. She is looking forward to other books in the series.

This fun and suspenseful whodunit is sure to delight readers! When American twins Xena and Xander move to London, they learn they're direct descendants of the great detective Sherlock Holmes. After they're given his casebook of unresolved cases - complete with clues - the twins enter a surprising journey of mystery and intrigue that take them all over London and its suburbs. Sherlock Holmes fans will appreciate how author Tracy Barrett masterfully weaves bits and pieces from the original Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle into her book. I couldn't put this page-turner down! Complete with a quaint English village, Henry the Eighth's mansion, boarding schools, and numerous art galleries, this book will please thrill-seeking readers.

There's a new mystery series on the block. Now, the only thing better than a Henry Holt book is a story by children's author Tracy Barrett. Put them together and you'd expect a fun book, which is exactly what this pair supplies. This first book in a new series introduces us to American siblings who travel to London. There, they learn that they're related to the great detective, Sherlock Holmes. Of course, Xena and Xander are wanna-be detectives and Barrett doesn't waste any time throwing them into their first real mystery. Just a few pages into the story, the kids receive Sherlock Holmes' unsolved casebook. Can two American kids do what Sherlock Holmes couldn't? Barrett's story moves quickly, but not too quickly. Each new clue leads to new questions. Solving one mystery simply exposes another! Barrett masterfully paints the characters of Xena and Xander while launching the story's plot, and I like that. I so much want to turn that first page in every book I read and this one certainly didn't disappoint me. Barrett's beginning is a charming device that sets up the plot without boring the reader. Everything fits. I loved the way Barrett uses a fictional character, Sherlock Holmes, to lend credibility to her characters. In addition, she gives Xander a photographic memory so the kids have quick access to information in a fun way. It's a marvelous way to solve a literary problem while making Xander a "real boy." Kids will easily identify with both Xena and Xander because Barrett allows them to be kids, not just miniatures detectives. Xena and Xander matter just as much as solving the mystery.