Part of Series
It is 1868, the week that Benjamin Disraeli becomes Prime Minister of the Empire. Sherlock's beautiful but poor admirer, Beatrice, the hatter's daughter, appears at the door late at night. She is terrified, claiming that she and her friend have just been attacked by the Spring Heeled Jack on Westminster Bridge and the fiend has made off with her friend. At first Sherlock thinks Beatrice simply wants his attention, and he is reluctant to go back to detective work. He also believes that the Jack everyone fears is a fictional figure. But soon he is suspicious of various individuals, several of them close friends. Set at a time when many in England were in a state of fear because a Jew was running the country, Shane Peacock presents a compelling story filled with an atmosphere of paranoia and secrets and surprises played out on late-night London streets. Sherlock gets drawn deeper and deeper into the pursuit of the Spring Heeled Jack, whose attacks grow in number until it seems that there are Jacks everywhere. The Secret Fiend is the fourth book in Shane Peacock's award-winning Boy Sherlock Holmes series, combining brilliant storytelling with fascinating historical detail and a mystery worthy of one of the greatest sleuths in English literature. From the Hardcover edition.
Author
Shane Peacock was born in 1957 in Thunder Bay, Ontario, one of four brothers. He attended school in the northern town of Kapuskasing, Ontario, before attending university, where he studied History and English literature. A biographer, journalist, and screenwriter, he is also the author of eighteen novels, a picture book and three plays, and has been won and/or been nominated for numerous awards including two Arthur Ellis Awards for crime fiction, the Geoffrey Bilson Award for historical fiction, the Violet Downey Award, the Libris Award, seven times honored with Junior Library Guild of America selections, and has been on three shortlists for the Canadian Children's Literature Award, and one for the Governor-General's Award. His books have been published in 20 languages in 18 countries. He and his wife, journalist Sophie Kneisel live in Cobourg, Ontario and have two daughters and a son. Series: * The Dylan Maples Adventures * The Boy Sherlock Holmes The Dark Missions of Edgar Brim The Seven Series Awards: Arthur Ellis Award ◊ Best Juvenile (2008): Eye of the Crow The Arthur Ellis (2013) The Violet Downey Award The Libris Award The Geoffrey Bilson Award The Ruth & Sylvia Schwartz Award Anne Izard Storyteller Choice Award Junior Library Guild of America Selection (7 times) Governor-General's Award (shortlist) TD Canadian Children's Literature Award (shortlist)
