Young Miss Holmes

Pert and pint-sized ten-year-old Christie plays loli-cop to her Uncle Sherlock's sleuthing. Shintani has cleverly reconfigured classic Holmes plots, incorporating Christie's counterpoint to the Holmes-Watson duo. In "The Mazarin Stone," for example, Christie playacts a large doll to eavesdrop on Count Sylvius, substituting for the Holmes dummy in the original. Sometimes competing with Holmes to figure out a case before he does, sometimes complementing his findings or even replacing him, Christie follows her own intellectual precocity assisted by her sidekicks: pistol-packing Head Maid Hopkins, wisecracking maid Nora with her whip, and governess Grace Dunbar from the "Thor Bridge" story, who joins Christie's staff. The shojo-style art excels at Victorian clothing designs. In Japan, the series ran to seven volumes as Christie High Tension, and a sequel began last fall with Christie as a lovely young woman. VERDICT This charming treat for the intellect introduces newbies to the Holmes universe, while Holmesians can enjoy how Shintani has repurposed the stories without dishonoring them. The exploits of Christie and her team, all well developed as characters, will charm precocious tweens through adults who like women sleuths. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.