Eye of the Crow by Shane Peacock

Billed as the first case of the The Boy Sherlock Holmes, this author does a pretty good job of establishing why Sherlock Holmes becomes what he is. Sherlock's the son of a Jewish professor who can't find work because he married a rich lady above his class. Sherlock is bitter and believes that his education can't get him where he wants to be (rich and important) because he's a half-Jew. So he skips school and practices his observation skills instead. When a lady is murdered in Whitecastle, Sherlock is arrested, along with an Arab who had the murder weapon. And thus Sherlock's crime solving begins, along with his own lawbreaking to do so.