Discover Well-Read Black Girl Books and the projects reshaping publishing →

Book Summary and Reviews of The Clockwork Scarab by Colleen Gleason

The Clockwork Scarab by Colleen Gleason

The Clockwork Scarab

A Stoker & Holmes Novel

by Colleen Gleason

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Published:
  • Sep 2013, 356 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

Evaline Stoker and Mina Holmes never meant to get into the family business.

But when you're the sister of Bram and the niece of Sherlock, vampire hunting and mystery solving are in your blood. And when two society girls go missing, there's no one more qualified to investigate.

Now fierce Evaline and logical Mina must resolve their rivalry, navigate the advances of not just one but three mysterious gentlemen, and solve a murder with only one clue: the strange Egyptian scarab. The stakes are high.

If Stoker and Holmes don't unravel why the belles of London society are in such danger, they'll become the next victims.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Few answers are offered in this outing, but the author's writing exudes energy, romance, and humor, and she gives her heroines strong, vibrant personalities as they puzzle out the expansive mystery unfolding before them. Ages 12–up." - Publishers Weekly

"The mishmash of popular tropes (steampunk! vampires! Sherlock Holmes!) will bring readers in, but it's the friendship between the two girls that will keep them." - Kirkus

"All in all, the vivid setting and the finely drawn, compelling heroines make this a fine choice for readers who like their stories with steampunk spice and smart, strong women." - School Library Journal

"With its fog-shrouded setting, its heart-racing and clever plot and, most of all, its two completely delightful, kick-butt heroines, The Clockwork Scarab is pure, delicious fun from beginning to end." - Rachel Hawkins, author of the Hex Hall series

"Charming, addicting, and oh-so-much-fun! I absolutely couldn't put it down!" - Kristi Cook, author of Haven

"Colleen Gleason manages to twine together steampunk, Holmesian mystery, Egyptian mythology, and even time travel into a seamless and fun read." - Leah Cypess, author of Nightspell

"Thank you, Colleen Gleason, for giving the world the teenage female equivalent of Sherlock Holmes! Where has she been all these years?" - Sophie Jordan, author of the Forgotten Princesses and the Firelight series

This information about The Clockwork Scarab was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Click here and be the first to review this book!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Colleen Gleason

Colleen Gleason is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling, award-winning author of more than twenty novels. She is best known for her historical vampire slayer series The Gardella Vampire Chronicles, and the post-apocalyptic romance series The Envy Chronicles (as Joss Ware).

Set in steampunk Victorian London, The Clockwork Scarab is her debut young adult novel. She lives in the Midwest.

More Author Information

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked The Clockwork Scarab, try these:

  • The House on Vesper Sands jacket

    The House on Vesper Sands

    by Paraic O'Donnell

    Published 2022

    About this book

    With all the wit of a Jane Austen novel, and a case as beguiling as any in Sherlock Holmes' casebook, Paraic O'Donnell introduces a detective duo for the ages, and slowly unlocks the secrets of a startling Victorian mystery.

  • Fortune Favors the Dead jacket

    Fortune Favors the Dead

    by Stephen Spotswood

    Published 2021

    About this book

    A wildly charming and fast-paced mystery written with all the panache of the hardboiled classics, Fortune Favors the Dead introduces Pentecost and Parker, an audacious new detective duo for the ages.

  • The Hourglass Factory jacket

    The Hourglass Factory

    by Lucy Ribchester

    Published 2017

    About this book

    Amid the drama of the suffragette movement in Edwardian London, the disappearance of a famous trapeze artist in the middle of her act leads a young Fleet Street reporter to an underworld of circus performers, fetishists, and society columnists.

We have 10 read-alikes for The Clockwork Scarab, but non-members are limited to three results. Join free to see the complete list of recommendations.
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes

More Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History

Browse all Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History books

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
When No One Else Will
by Amanda Skenandore
1940s Chicago nurse risks everything at an illegal women’s clinic during a high-profile trial of courage and sisterhood.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket
    Look What You Made Me Do
    by John Lanchester
    A propulsive tale of intergenerational tension and revenge from the Booker Prize nominee.
  • Book Jacket
    The Jellyfish Problem
    by Tessa Yang
    A marine biologist rescues a Maine island menaced by a giant glowing jellyfish in this inventive debut.
  • Book Jacket
    Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young
    by Zayd Ayers Dohrn
    Son of Weather Underground radicals recounts life on the run and decades of revolutionary struggle.
Who Said...

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Book
Trivia
  • Book Trivia

    Can you name the title?

    Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

Q S, S

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.