"The Dragon Turn" by Shane Peacock

Like the other books in this series, The Dragon Turn finds an adolescent Sherlock Holmes attempting to solve a mystery that baffles authorities.  Unlike most "kid power" books and movies where the kids are smart and the adults are bumbling fools, the mystery here baffles Sherlock just as much as his counterparts at Scotland Yard.  I very much appreciated that, as even when I was a kid myself, I thought "kid power" stories were sometimes fun, but always unrealistic.

As for the plot, there's this mediocre magician with a fantastic new trick involving a dragon.  All of London is going nuts about him.  Then he's accused of murdering a rival magician, the very one who ran away with the first guy's wife a few years ago.  The police are convinced the first guy murdered the second guy, but all that was left at the crime scene was blood and some bits of flesh.  They have no idea how the murder was done, and Sherlock tries to figure it out for them.

Particularly Good Bits: 

Boredom is like a monster to Sherlock Holmes, like a troll hiding beneath a bridge, waiting to attack him (p. 18).

"If a sword of justice is needed," he says, even louder, not caring who hears, "...then I shall be it!" (p. 220).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG-13 for violence and intense situations.  There's no black magic involved here -- just sleight-of-hand and stage tricks.