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In the March/April 2025 issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Steven Steinbock wrote in The Jury Box column:
In the four volumes of her Consulting Detective series -- beginning with The Crack in the Lens (2011) --
Cypser chronicles the early life of Sherlock Holmes while weaving in many of the untold adventures mentioned
in the Conan Doyle canon. Montague Street opens in 1876 with the twenty-two-year-old Holmes continuing his education
in criminology while solving a series of cases. Montague Street is an episodic novel featuring a series of connected
adventures which lead to Holmes's first meeting with Dr. John Watson and his move to 221B Baker Street."
He gave four stars to the recently released The Consulting Detective Trilogy Part III: Montague Street.
Reviews from the Sherlock Holmes Society of London:
The Crack in the Lens ... tells an engrossing story of the boy Holmes and at the same time
explores the reasons why the man Holmes turned out as he did - a brilliant, unconventional, and
apparently emotionless righter of wrongs. In this account Mycroft, Sherrinford and Sherlock are
the sons of Squire Siger Holmes of Mycroft Manor in Yorkshire, where Sherlock is educated by a private
tutor, Professor James Moriarty. These inventions of William Baring-Gould have become far more influential
in America than they should be, but they make a colourful and appropriately atmospheric basis for a tale
that seems to owe as much to Emily Bronte as to Arthur Conan Doyle. Roger Johnson, Editor of The
District Messenger of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London
In her intensively researched and lovingly written novel The Crack in
the Lens, Darlene Cypser wrote of the boyhood of Sherlock
Holmes. She continues the story in The Consulting Detective Trilogy,
Part I: University.... Like Dorothy L Sayers, Ms Cypser sends the young Holmes to
Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, but his experiences there, apart
from his unusual introduction to Victor Trevor and the tale of the
Gloria Scott, come mostly from her own powerful imagination....
Roger Johnson, The District Messenger of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London
Cypser produces a convincing and intriguing plot to explain how Holmes's stage career might
have come about, skilfully weaving in details from the canon, whilst introducing new characters and
inventively expanding on the background of others. That the author has done considerable historical
research is evident: from the London stage to the plains of America, the scenes are set in rich and
vivid detail. Several cases take place along the way, a few soon-to-be famous faces appear and
moments of suspense and rescue are balanced with quieter moments of introspection, making for an
enjoyable read. Sarah Obermuller-Bennett, The Sherlock Holmes Journal
Additional reviews:
"The transformation of Cypser's young Sherlock of The Crack in the Lens into the
maturing Sherlock Holmes of The Consulting Detective is both subtle and brilliant. By the end
of Cypser's second novel, the reader stands in full knowledge and awareness of the man before them,
and you wonder how you missed it, so understated was his development."
Jaime Mahoney, Better Holmes & Gardens
[Read full review]
"Holmes' world is vividly drawn and compelling; once you enter, you won't want to leave....
What I loved most about University, however, was the suspense.... Every scene has an
ultimate purpose, and nothing is wasted. I was pulled in from the first, and had no desire to
resurface.... My advice? Forget chores, ignore the laundry, order takeout for dinner and just
settle in for the ride. You'll miss it when it's over."
Leah Guinn, The Well-Read Sherlockian
[Read full review]
"University sees a transformation of Holmes from a troubled boy to the beginnings of the
man that would cause him to become the world's only consulting detective. I await the next stage
of the Trilogy, Onstage with much anticipation to see how Holmes builds on the lessons learnt in University."
Charlotte Smith, My Tin Dispatch Box
[Read full review]
"It is a truly remarkable narrative that rings with possibilities and yet makes the events described
seem to be natural outcomes of the situations.... I could say that the action is riveting, as it was, but
there is really little action. I could say that the characters are fascinating, which they are, but most
appear and then disappear, leaving their interactions with Sherlock as the only evidence of their existence....
Most of the details have been made fascinating by the author, so the book is a very 'good read.'"
Philip Jones, The Ill-Dressed Vagabond
"She brings us from Sherlock's journey as a young man going through a terrible ordeal, to a man who
has such passion for what he wants to become."
Kate Workman, Thoughts From Baker Street
[Read full review]
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