Barnabas Tew and The Case Of The Missing Scarab
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Crooked Cat Books
Release Date – June 3, 2017
Paperback: 274 pages

Synopsis

Barnabas Tew is a private detective struggling to survive in his trade in Victorian London. Fearing that he is not as clever as he had hoped to be, he is plagued by a lack of confidence brought on in no small part by his failure to prevent the untimely deaths of several of his clients.

Matters only get worse when Anubis, the Egyptian God of the Dead, is referred to Barnabas by a former client (who perished in a terribly unfortunate incident which was almost certainly not Barnabas’ fault). Anubis sends for Barnabas (in a most uncivilized manner) and tells him that the scarab beetle in charge of rolling the sun across the sky every day has been kidnapped, and perhaps dismembered entirely.

The Land of the Dead is in chaos, which will soon spill over into the Land of the Living if Barnabas – together with his trusty assistant, Wilfred – cannot set matters to right. Pulled from his predictable (if unremarkable) life in Marylebone, Barnabas must match his wits against the capricious and dangerous Egyptian gods in order to unravel the mystery of the missing beetle and thereby save the world.

Review

This is quite a different concept (to me at least) for a cozy/mystery. The lead detective, Barnabus, is killed within the first few chapters (by a mummy) and is taken to the Egyptian underworld because Anubis needs his help to determine who kidnapped Khepra, the scarab beetle that controls the sun. His sidekick, Wilfred, is also killed (also by the same mummy) and delivered to the underworld.

There are quite a few upsides to this book – education on Egyptian mythology and the various gods that ruled their world; a different landscape for a mystery (some say it is steampunk or Victorian); and Sherlock Holmes type characters. (Of course, the resemblance to Sherlock Holmes ends with the fact that they are detectives.) And the mystery led me in circles and I didn’t figure it out until it was revealed. There were some clues along the way but not too many that made it easy to figure out too early in the book. I loved how the female gods “saved the day” near the end. I won’t say much and who, but it shows you should never count a woman out, even if she is a god!

I am not fond of Barnabus’ character. He’s a bumbling detective and I wonder how he ever solved any cases. Perhaps that is part of his charm? Wilfred is slightly better and at least he tries to keep Barnabus on track. I do wish there had been more of a description of the underworld. I really didn’t have the best idea of what it might look like other than a river, sandy areas, and homes of the various gods.

We give this 3 1/2 paws

About the Author

Columbkill Noonan has an M.S. in Biology (she has, in turn, been a field biologist, an environmental compliance inspector, and a lecturer of Anatomy and Physiology).

When she’s not teaching or writing, she can usually be found riding her rescue horse, Mittens, practicing yoga (on the ground, in an aerial silk, on a SUP board, and sometimes even on Mittens), or spending far too much time at the local organic, vegan market.

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