The cover of this book is just beautiful, and the "detectives in Victorian London" had me requesting it.

Unfortunately, it didn't deliver. The two detectives Barnabas and Wilfred consider themselves Sherlock and Watson, but they are quite the opposite. In the beginning, I thought it was humorous but it quickly kept going down hill. They’re absolutely terrible at their job, and are responsible for the deaths of a number of their clients. When one of the clients dies, they are pulled into a mystery into the Egyptian underworld, ruled by Anubis. They are hired to locate Khepre, the scarab beetle responsible for moving the sun in the sky.

The mystery seemed interesting enough, expect... there wasn't much of it. There is so much going on, that the mystery itself took the backseat. There's almost no narration and way too much dialogue, and there were moments I found myself skipping pages since it just dragged on with no real contribution to the story.

While the characters and their interactions are at times quite amusing, I've never met such dense protagonists before. They don't see what's right in front of them, are completely unable to interpret clues properly, and I quickly became annoyed with how obtuse they are, The book would have been way shorter if they had just seen what was right there for everyone to see.

I struggled to keep on reading the book because I didn’t find it all that compelling, I definitely won't be reading the sequel.

Full review to come.
I deeply apologize, but life is a handful lately and I'm using all my free time to read, not review. I hope everybody understands.

Not a bad book really, but after a while, the fact that Barnaby (and Wilfred to a lesser extent) are so bad at their job get a bit wearing.
I got to the point where I was just hoping for the book to end – and I confess to thinking of skipping pages or even not finishing the book.

I liked the premise of this novel, but the execution was awful. None of the characters were developed, the mythology wasn't presented in an interesting way and all of the minor characters were caricatures.

There's something about Victorian era book settings that brings out the use of language to fit within that setting and gives the story a certain flavour.

Barnabas Tew wants to be like his hero, Sherlock Holmes, but so far it's not going too well. He isn't nearly as clever and pretending to understand things when his assistant, Wildred, gets a reference that he doesn't does him no favours.

They've been given a case by Anubis to find a missing god. The trouble is, searching for clues in the underworld requires being dead! Traversing a landscape where they have to learn the rules as they go along leads to a constant state of confusion for the detectives.

This is a light, fun story. The journey through the realms of Egyptian gods added an interesting touch, although purists will wonder how the author assigned personalities to some of them, especially Maat and Hathor, who seemed way out of character.

It was a little slow moving in parts and had a sort of comic feel to it, but was overall enjoyable. The obvious set up at the end for a next book in series was actually rather well done, but the story works fine as a stand alone.

I got this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book is anything I’ve read before. It’s funny and witty. Barnabas Tew want to be like Sherlock Holmes and he sure pretends he is him. When he play at being serious or try to be intimidating it’s just hilarious. But I so loved that he tried so hard to solve the case he is given. By Anubis himself! And how cool is that.
And I am into everything egyptian so so there was no doubt this book is for me.
And I think for anyone else too who likes Egyptian mythologie and want to read a light, funny story.

"Barnabas Tew and the Case of the Missing Scarab" reads like Monty Python meets Egyptian mythology. The humor is sometimes dry, sometimes absurd. The author obviously did her homework in regards to Egyptian mythology. While I enjoyed some parts of the story, I was left confused by one important story element: why would Anubis hire such an utterly incompetent investigator? Watching Barnabas stumble around was amusing, but really didn't make much sense. If you are looking for a serious paranormal mystery, look elsewhere. If you want something along the lines of Warlock Holmes, then you've found the right book.

Fun supernatural mystery

I enjoyed this book. Columbkill Noonan tells a good, well-paced, lighter story. The characters are well developed and quirky. Some of the wording is very clever and worthy of re-reading. If you liked the Inspector Hobbes books by Wilkie Martin, or The Case of the Deadly Doppelganger by Lucy Banks then you will like this as well. They are all well-written supernatural series wrapped up in friendly and humorous packages. I recommend this book for those who want to read lighter fantasy.

This ARC was provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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I was really looking forward to this one. The mix of a Victorian setting and Egyptian mythology was one that immediately caught my attention. Unfortunately, the book did not live up to my expectations for it.

My biggest issue with this was the writing style. It wasn't bad per say, but I was confused about the audience that this book was targeted at. It could have been anywhere from middle grade to adult. The story involved murders and gruesome punishments/torture and yet they were all addressed by the characters with an air of posh humour. It was jarring at first, then I tried to look past it, but finally I could ignore it no longer and had to stop reading. I might come back to it at some point, because the ideas were interesting. For now, however, I will have to leave it at that.

Rating (out of 5): ⭐⭐
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Short review on Litsy

ARC provided by NetGalley and publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I was very much anticipating this one as it involved a mix of a Victorian setting and Egyptian mythology.
However, it did not live up to my expectations. My biggest issue with this was the writing style. It wasn't bad per say, but I was confused about the audience that this book was targeted at. It could have been anywhere from middle grade to adult.

Rating: ⭐⭐

This book is a little different from the norm. Barnabas Tew and Wilfred Colby are two rather hopeless Victorian detectives who really want to be like Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson but fail miserably. Their fate is to end up being killed by an Egyptian mummy in a museum on the orders of Anubis, the god of the dead in the Egyptian underworld, since he has need of them. Their mission is to find who has done away with Khepre, the scarab beetle who rolls the sun Ra out in the morning and back at night, before the entire underworld suffers irreversibly in the perpetual noon sun.
Along the way they meet many gods, good and bad, until the crime is solved. None of the characters are overly likeable but the dialogue is good and there is a certain amount of humour in the book. There is not too much of a plot but the story is quite amusing, the characters grow on you and the reader will learn quite a lot about Egyptian mythology along the way. The book finishes with the main characters heading off for another adventure, this time in Norse mythology.

I thought this book had a great central concept, but the execution was slightly misdirected. The writing was excellent, and the humour too! But, I did find the pacing and direction of the plot to be a little slow and so not as engaging. I really wanted to LOVE it, but I certainly enjoyed it :)

This book was an enjoyable and fun read. It's full of humour, with a lovely plot and quirky characters.
I loved the pompous anti-hero and laugh out loud reading it.
I will surely look for other books by this author.
Recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC

Clever, funny, and utterly unique, Barnabas Tew and The Case of the Missing Scarab is a novel to treasure.  This delightful and unconventional mystery places two of England’s most hapless detectives in the Egyptian underworld.  Here, at Anubis’s bequest, Barnabas and Wilfred are tasked with finding Khepre, the god who moves the sun across the sky.   Quintessentially English and naive to a fault, the duo stumble from deity to deity making a nuisance of themselves and falling for more than

a few tricks.  Columbkill Noonan’s skillful wordplay and comical depictions transform a good novel into an exceptional one.  Noonan’s style perfectly captures both the slight stuffiness and well meaning idiocy of Barnabas and Wilfred, as well as the absurdity of the situation they are in.  


While the humor of Barnabas Tew and The Case of the Missing Scarab won’t appeal to all readers, those who enjoy clever wordplay and absurd situations will enjoy this charming mystery.  It is especially fun if you have some knowledge of Egyptian mythology- but that is not a necessity. With its lack of violence and gentle humorous nature, the novel can be enjoyed by younger readers, but it is likely they will need a dictionary on hand to look up more challenging words.


5 / 5


I received a copy of Barnabas Tew and The Case of the Missing Scarab from the publisher and NetGalley.com in exchange for an honest review.


— Crittermom

I received this ARC via Netgalley, in return for an honest review. This book was different. The hero, Barnabas Tew, and his assistant, Wilfred, are late Victorian era detectives. Barnabas wished to be Sherlock Holmes and somehow, it just doesn't work out that way. Instead, he ends up killed by mummy (yep, Egyptian mummy) and in the Underworld to solve a mystery for Anubis, God of the Dead. Adventures ensue across the Egyptian mythology. Barnabas and Wilfred win through in the end and appear headed for further adventures, this time with Odin, in a future book. This book really was unlike any I've read. The characters aren't hugely likable or intelligent or sympathetic (Well, I like Wilfred). If you like books where the main characters tend to, unwittingly, move from one catastrophe to another and managing to win through, this is the book for you. They're gentle souls, thrust into a very strange and unforgiving world, trying their best to navigate through. They do grow on you so you carry on, just to see what happens next. The author obviously did a great deal of research into Egyptian mythology and it shows throughout the book.

Barnabas Tew and the Case of the Missing Scarab is a comedy of errors following Barnabas and his assistant Wilfred. They are detectives, styling themselves in the manner of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, although they’re not nearly as successful - in fact, they’re actually quite terrible at the job, and several of their clients have died as a result of their botched investigations. When one of their clients passes away after using a magical ankh, Barnabas and Wilfred are recommended to a new client for their work. This client is, surprisingly, Anubis, Egyptian god of the dead. Khepre, the god that rolls the sun across the sky, is missing - and Barnabas is tasked with finding out where he is. Across the underworld Barnabas and Wilfred encounter great and minor gods, multiple adventures, and ultimately the truth of what happened to Khepre, with great risk to themselves.

This book was a bit fun, following Barnabas and Wilfred on their adventures and seeing them interact with different gods and creatures. The mystery itself wasn’t too compelling in my opinion, I didn’t find myself getting invested in the book, but there were moments where the antics of the detectives made me laugh. I have always liked Ancient Egypt, so it was interesting to see a Victorian detective and his assistant navigate that culture, one so different from their own. The settings were very descriptive and interesting, so I liked reading those portions of the text.

That being said, I think the protagonists were so bad at what they did, and so dense, that at times it became quite annoying how obtuse they were, Wilfred less so than Barnabas. I struggled at times to keep on reading the book because I didn’t find it all that compelling, but I think that just happens to be a matter of taste. There were a few mistakes that could’ve been fixed by good editing as well, although I’m not sure if the copy of the book provided to me through Netgalley was a finalized version or before proofs. The ending of the book led right into a sequel, but I don’t think I would find myself picking that up.

From the blurb, I expected this to be a detective story set in Victorian times. I was looking forward to meeting a new detective and his side-kick and to reading about their adventure looking for ancient Egyptian artefacts. What I got was more of a fantasy.

To be honest, I expected (perhaps naively) the "ancient Egyptian underworld" mentioned in the blurb to have been an elaborate trick set up by a gang of criminals intent on stealing artefacts from the British Museum. I did not expect the heroes actually to be transported to the underworld itself, and, by the sound of it, then to be transported to the Norse underworld for the next book in the series.

The dialogue is nothing like dialogue written by Victorian authors such as Dickens, Trollope, Collins or Conan Doyle, other than being in English. But that English is extraordinary, having convoluted, archaic and pseudo-archaic phrases and words in addition to more modern language, such as , "Okay", "feminist" which were most unlikely to have been used in everyday conversation in London (nor in the realm of the ancient Egyptian dead) in the late C19.

The plot moves along at a good pace, the dialogue is frequently amusing and there is a fair bit of information about ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses. But I am left wondering who the author's intended readership is for this series. Possibly, it is aimed at younger teenagers.

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for this honest review.