Secrets, Spies & Sherlock Blog Tour

I saw that Sherlock had searched inside the man’s jacket pocket with the driftwood and had pulled out two large stones and a soggy piece of paper. It was a note. Lupin picked it up. I put my hands over my mouth. Although the ink had run, you could still read what was written on it.“The sea will wash away my guilt,’” read Sherlock.I stepped back and looked around again. But this time I saw someone at the other end of the beach. He was wearing a blue cloak that completely hid his face and was standing in front of the trees between the beach and the trail we’d followed that afternoon. He seemed to be looking straight at us.Terror washed over me like a wave. I pointed at him and screamed with all my might, “Let’s go!”Lupin and Sherlock sprang to their feet. I wasn’t sure if they’d also seen the hooded figure, but my scream had certainly frightened them. All three of us started to run as fast as we could along the beach, and we didn’t stop until we reached the gates to the town.Once we were there, we leaned up against the stone wall, which was still warm from the late afternoon sun, and let ourselves slide down onto the ground, all of us panting.“What happened?” asked Lupin, when he finally managed to catch his breath.“There was a man,” I said. “A man wearing a blue cloak with a hood. A hooded man by the trees.”Sherlock closed his eyes. “Are you sure?” he asked.I nodded, still gasping for breath. “He was looking at us. At us and the dead man.”“The man with no name,” said Sherlock. He opened his hand. He’d brought the note they’d found in the dead man’s pocket.Thoughts swirled through my mind like swarms of mad bees. What should we do? Who should we tell? Had anyone else seen us? And who was the mysterious figure who’d been spying on us?“We do nothing,” said Lupin, as if he’d been reading my mind. “We do nothing and say nothing. We were never at the beach. We didn’t see a body.”

“Our footprints are all over the sand,” said Sherlock.

“The tide’s coming in,” Lupin said. “It will cover them.”

Sherlock nodded. “But the fact remains that someone saw us,” he said, pointing in the direction of the beach with his chin. “And they were undoubtedly close enough to see our faces.”

“We’re not sure anyone was even there,” Lupin said, briefly glancing at me.

“He was there!” I insisted. “I’m sure of it!” “You’re probably right,” Sherlock said.

“So what do we do?” I asked. “We have to tell someone!”

Lupin shook his head. “No. We’ll wait to see if the hooded man says something. Otherwise, we don’t do a single thing.”

“And you think the man I saw will tell someone?” I asked.

Sherlock stood up, casting a long shadow over us both. “Lupin’s right. If this mystery man goes to the police, within a few hours everyone in town will know about it all anyway.”

“And if he doesn’t?” I asked.

“Well, in all probability, Irene, it will mean that you’ve just seen the murderer,” he concluded grimly.

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I (Kallie) found Sherlock, Lupin & Me to be a great introduction to the quirky and fascinating character, Sherlock!  I’ll be passing this along to my daughter (who is in 5th grade), and I know she’ll  adore Irene’s point of view.  Challenging vocabulary, problem solving, and a strong female who spurs Sherlock into his early detective days, are all reasons I loved the novel and plan to pass it on!