In Praise of Robert Newman

There have to be other 30-somethings or refugees of odd library systems who remember this series fondly. Robert Newman was a British writer (I'm pretty sure he's dead now) who wrote a great series of Victorian mysteries for preteens. They starred Andrew Tillett, the son of a famous actress, and his friend Sara Wiggins, a girl of various talents due to her previous life in the toughest parts of London in the 1890's. Together they assisted their friend Inspector Peter Wyatt (later Andrew's stepfather) in solving various crimes--discreet murders, jewel thefts, lies, assumed identities, blackmail, fraud.

I loved anything British in those days. And anything that took place in the Victorian age. One of the things that I notice (correct me if I'm wrong) and think is a shame is that most kids' lit these days is so contemporary-based, as if the ability to imagine the past or another place is gone. And these books are pretty much candy--well-written, a starting place for stories or imaginings, but not really preaching or setting examples. Which kids need, I think--my life as a kid sucked, and I lost myself in this sort of literature gladly.

I've got two of the series, The Case of the Baker Street Irregular and The Case of the Somerville Secret, up on half.com. I found them during my daily trawl through the bookstacks, and since I don't have any kid friends to pass them onto I hope someone else with more space who's trying to recapture his or her childhood buys them to read or pass along to children.