What do you think?
Rate this book
Saxby Smart, Private Detective #7
The Poisoned Arrow
"My name is Saxby Smart and I'm a private detective. I go to St.Egbert's School, my office is in the garden shed, and these are my casefiles. Unlike most detectives, I don't have a sidekick - so that part I'm leaving up to YOU."
In this series of stories, YOU can be the detective - Saxby presents you with the evidence, and poses some tricky questions...! The titles in this series
The Curse Of The Ancient Mask
The Fangs Of The Dragon
The Pirate's Blood
The Hangman's Lair
The Eye Of The Serpent
Five Seconds To Doomsday
The Poisoned Arrow
Secret Of The SkullThey can be read in any order - you don't need to start at book 1!
In this series of stories, YOU can be the detective - Saxby presents you with the evidence, and poses some tricky questions...! The titles in this series
The Curse Of The Ancient Mask
The Fangs Of The Dragon
The Pirate's Blood
The Hangman's Lair
The Eye Of The Serpent
Five Seconds To Doomsday
The Poisoned Arrow
Secret Of The SkullThey can be read in any order - you don't need to start at book 1!
192 pages, Paperback
First published September 21, 2009
18 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 5, 2023
Saxby Smart, the brilliant schoolboy detective, seems to see himself as a cross between Philip Marlowe and Sherlock Holmes but with his pals Isobel "Izzy" Moustique and George "Muddy" Whitehouse the team comes across as more like The Three Investigators without being face to face with dangerous criminals on each case. Having said that, there is more bubbling schoolkid humour in Saxby Smart than the Three Investigators ever managed to create.
Saxby is something of a ringer for Jupiter Jones. He is not described as being plump but he regularly admits to a chronic lack of fitness and has a sharp analytical mind. Izzy, the wonderful Izzy - she is my favourite character in the series - fits with Bob Andrews. She is the brains behind the trio, a computer nerd with a touch of Mata Hari about her. She will either grow up to be the next Elon Musk or, if she takes to the dark side, Irene Adler. And then there is Muddy, not quite Pete Crenshaw as he is not really athletic, but he is the practical one ready to come up with inventions and gadgets that will give Saxby a sense of reality. Like Dr. Watson, he is often astounded by his friend's insights.
Saxby's investigations cover crimes big and small - mostly small - which involve children at his school, their friends, their parents or other relatives. In volume seven he investigates skulduggery at the local theatre, a stolen laptop, and sneakery at a school quiz with his arch enemy, the low-down rat Harry Lovecraft haunting him again.
In The Poisoned Arrow - which turns out to be the name of a play being produced at the town's only theatre - Saxby is nearly caught up in a police sting to trap a corrupt property dealer.
The Nightmare of Room 9B is a tamer affair as Saxby and Muddy see a little of university life. Muddy is impressed and excited at the prospect of life on campus, while Saxby seems to experience a bit of early onset grumpy dad syndrome when it comes to the behaviour of young academe. Anyway a student has been arrested for stealing a laptop but did he do it?
In The Final Problem it is nice to see Saxby's Moriarty make a return appearance. Is the mastermind behind cheating at the inter-school prize-winning quiz that evil genius Harry Lovecraft, and can Saxby, Izzy and Muddy thwart his daring plan?
Saxby is something of a ringer for Jupiter Jones. He is not described as being plump but he regularly admits to a chronic lack of fitness and has a sharp analytical mind. Izzy, the wonderful Izzy - she is my favourite character in the series - fits with Bob Andrews. She is the brains behind the trio, a computer nerd with a touch of Mata Hari about her. She will either grow up to be the next Elon Musk or, if she takes to the dark side, Irene Adler. And then there is Muddy, not quite Pete Crenshaw as he is not really athletic, but he is the practical one ready to come up with inventions and gadgets that will give Saxby a sense of reality. Like Dr. Watson, he is often astounded by his friend's insights.
Saxby's investigations cover crimes big and small - mostly small - which involve children at his school, their friends, their parents or other relatives. In volume seven he investigates skulduggery at the local theatre, a stolen laptop, and sneakery at a school quiz with his arch enemy, the low-down rat Harry Lovecraft haunting him again.
In The Poisoned Arrow - which turns out to be the name of a play being produced at the town's only theatre - Saxby is nearly caught up in a police sting to trap a corrupt property dealer.
The Nightmare of Room 9B is a tamer affair as Saxby and Muddy see a little of university life. Muddy is impressed and excited at the prospect of life on campus, while Saxby seems to experience a bit of early onset grumpy dad syndrome when it comes to the behaviour of young academe. Anyway a student has been arrested for stealing a laptop but did he do it?
In The Final Problem it is nice to see Saxby's Moriarty make a return appearance. Is the mastermind behind cheating at the inter-school prize-winning quiz that evil genius Harry Lovecraft, and can Saxby, Izzy and Muddy thwart his daring plan?
January 31, 2011
Adequate kids' mystery, including 3 or 4 cases per book. Quite a sensible main character. Good for advanced 7 year olds to about 9 years.
June 24, 2011
Great fun; an irresistible series, and this is a good entry.
December 11, 2015
Disappointed...not so clever and confusing.Otherwise it was good
August 16, 2016
Wow! Morag isn't the culprit? I'm so surprised about that in the end.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews