SHERLOCK SAM AND THE SINISTER LETTERS IN BRAS BASAH - A.J. Low

The third adventure of ten-year-old Sherlock Sam - "Singapore's Greatest Kid Detective" - and his robot sidekick Watson begins when family friend Officer Siva of the Singapore Police seeks Sam's help in finding out who has been sending sinister letters to his friend Fidel.  Fidel Alvarado is a prominent children's book writer in Singapore, with a son named Luis who attends an international school, and through Luis (who thinks it's all part of a Chain Mail game), someone is sending Fidel vaguely threatening missives implying that if he continues writing, Luis might be in danger - setting up Sherlock and his friends for a one-week, sort of undercover mission to Luis's school, where the kid detective works with his friends to find clues and set a trap for the letter writer.  Every new Sherlock Sam book, for me, is like stepping into a time machine and going back to my childhood days of Hardy Boys and Encyclopedia Brown and the reason I fell in love with reading in the first place.  Always multicultural, in this story young readers will even learn something of Mexican food, customs and culture, as well as the ongoing themes that each book has of friendship and loyalty, embracing and exploring the differences between people instead of fearing or rejecting them (especially important in today's climate), and of course that good guys win and justice is served.  The mystery is actually done quite well here, too, with Sherlock and company logically following one clue to the other to figure out whodunnit.  Add some genuine heart and humor, along with the wonderful Saturday morning cartoon-like illustrations of Andrew "Drewscape" Tan, and all I can say is I hope this series never, ever ends.  As always, a glossary in the back also helps young readers with some of the words and phrases used in the novel, teaching while entertaining perfectly.  4.5/5 stars

Note: I received a free ARC of this title via NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.