Holmes, Marple & Poe: The Greatest Crime-Solving Team of the Twenty-First Century (Holmes, Margaret & Poe, 1)

As a big fan of James Patterson, when I read the description of this book, I really didn’t know what to expect. The book features three of the biggest names in mystery fiction in the title, Holmes, Marple, & Poe.

It turns out, the story features a group of three private investigators, all with these surnames. There is Brendan Holmes, Margaret Marple, and Auguste Poe. The book starts with them purchasing a property to use as both their office and homes. From there, they are called upon to solve several mysteries including the disappearance of a young Black attorney, stolen paintings, and a missing teen and her stepfather.

I have to say, this book was a bit hard to stomach. The mysteries did not display the excellent sleuth work of the three PIs, rather it displayed work that was so sloppy it was embarrassing. Each mystery was solved as quickly as a slap on the back of a naughty child’s hand. To top it off, Holmes is a heroin addict. Although the famous Sherlock Holmes was a cocaine addict, so it wasn’t a surprise that this version of the sleuth had some sort of drug problem, again, this was put into the story so sloppily as if it was just thrown into the mix. Overall, I believe fans of Patterson will be quite disappointed with this mess of a book.