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.

The Brothers of Baker Street, Chipwrecked

It's summer and a local theater offers free movies for kids. The weather is SO hot, and I'm just glad my kids have somewhere to go that's air conditioned besides the pool (which is fine but a lot of hours and days in the sun, you know?) Last week we took in Chipwrecked, the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie. The Chipmunks are going on a family vacation with Dave on a cruise. The Chip-ettes are along because this cruise is en route to some kind of international music awards show where all the chipmunk singers are performing. Alvin, up to his usual hijinx, manages to create a disaster wherein all the chipmunks are sort of blown overboard and deposited on a deserted island. Dave follows to save them (accidentally accompanied by a villain--the guy who played Tobias on Arrested Development--wearing a pelican suit.) There's a crazy lady on the island. And a treasure. And a volcano. While it was cute enough for me (except that the Chipettes look a little scary-faced. Why?), the one who really enjoyed it was my 4yo daughter. She was thoroughly entertained. And that's what it was for.

Ooh! I'm so excited about this next book. It was a mystery called The Brothers of Baker Street by Michael Robertson. It's book 2 in a series (which I didn't know until I was 1/3 of the way in), but the story was understandable as a stand-alone. The premise is a pair of London barrister brothers (Nigel and Reggie) take chambers at 221B Baker Street and begin to receive letters mailed to Sherlock Holmes. They are to only send form letters in response, according to conditions of the lease, never any other kind of response. Apparently not following this order got them in trouble in the last book. However, in this installment, they're receiving threat letters addressed to themselves (sort of) from someone wanting to avenge the wrongs of the sender's ancestor: James Moriarty. The mystery centers on the famous London Black Cabs, the safest transportation in the world--until now, when a Black Cab Killer has appeared. Reggie takes on the duty of defending the accused cabbie (sure the man is innocent), and the ball is rolling. I read this in one 24-hour period. If it hadn't been for necessary sleep (due to being a mom to five active kids) I'd have devoured it faster. It's rated PG (in my opinion), which is a true gem of a find in a lot of popular literature these days. I can't wait to zip down to the library and get book one.