The Baker Street Letters, The Muppets

Now that I've already read the second installment in the Baker Street Boys series, I had to go back and grab the first one at the other library. This one is called The Baker Street Letters. Robertson introduces us to the Heath brothers, Nigel and Reggie. Reggie is the successful one, Nigel is the flighty one, but they share a law chambers on Baker Street at the address of the fictional Sherlock Holmes. Letters come in for SH all the time, and they are required to not respond other than with a form letter. Nigel gets that task, as he's lost his law license temporarily, and he gets an obsessive interest in a certain 20-year-old letter. Nigel goes missing, and the same day the annoying law clerk turns up dead in Nigel's office. Reggie follows Nigel to Los Angeles and a mystery ensues. The vast majority of it takes place in L.A., (which is kind of a disappointment, since it ought to be all Sherlock Holmes-y and Londony, I'd think) and the characters could be more likable, more fleshed out. (They get more likable in the second volume.) It's about 3 stars out of five, but the second one is so great, I'm excited to read a third if Robertson is working on it. It's really fun when an author's writing improves and you can be along for the ride.

It's family movie night. The Muppets. My kids really like it. This is their second viewing of it. The cameos are fun. I've never seen any of the charm or appeal of the Miss Piggy character. Sigh. Sorry, Pig. The story centers on a non-famous puppet named Walter who has always idolized the Muppets since he was a kid and saw them on TV. He goes with his human brother and the human brother's girlfriend to the now-defunct Muppet studio, which is about to be destroyed. The only way to save the theater is to raise $10 million with a show. They have to collect the whole gang or it will never work. And they need a celebrity host. There's a subplot about whether the human brother will propose to the girlfriend. It's got cute jokes and fun musical numbers. "Kermit, if you don't get a celebrity host, no show. I will rerun Benson if I have to!" Good times. 3 stars out of 5.