Tag: crime

Posted in Graphic Novels, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

The Murder Next Door examines trauma

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Murder Next Door: A Graphic Memoir, by Hugh D’Andrade, (Feb. 2025, Street Noise Books), $20.99, ISBN: 9781951491352

Ages 14+

In 1978, Hugh discovered his friends crying outside their home in his neighborhood. They had come home from school and discovered their mother lying on the floor, murdered. Forty years later, he’s an adult with a successful career and social life, but he’s also haunted by the murder and experiences anger, anxiety, and panic attacks. Through The Murder Next Door, he examines his trauma and its roots, moving between sessions with his therapist and his memories. Using light blue and black illustration, with red for jarring emphasis, D’Andrade’s art is at once stark and dreamlike; his recall so painful, the reporting at odds with what D’Andrade witnessed, that it all churns in his mind, feeding his anger, his anxiety, his constant feeling of dread. He becomes an adult who baits conspiracy theorists, an adult never quite secure. Writing this memoir, D’Andrade allows readers to sit in on his therapy sessions and see where young Hugh was forced to bear witness to the unthinkable; we see the scars it left, rendered in red ink for readers to witness. A moving portrait of youth lost and of resistant trauma.

Posted in Realistic Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Blog Tour: Playing for the Devil’s Fire, by Philippe Diederich

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

devilsfirePlaying for the Devil’s Fire, by Phillippe Diederich, (March 2016, Cinco Puntos Press), $11.95, ISBN: 978-1-941026-29-8
Recommended for ages 14+

Photojournalist Philippe Diederich wrote his debut novel as a way of communicating his sorrow and anger at the brutual narcoviolence and corruption infecting Mexico. The brutal and gripping story follows 13 year-old Libero “Boli” Flores as he sees his town, Izayoc, crippled by the town’s new inhabitants: men who wear shiny guns, expensive clothes, and drive big SUVs; men who have a lot of money to spend, and men who don’t like to be questioned or crossed. When people speak out, they show up dead.

Boli’s parents know it’s no use to go to the local police, so they head to a neighboring town to seek help, but they never arrive. Boli waits for someone to bring he and his sister, Gaby, some kind of news. Hope comes, briefly, in the form of El Chicano Estrada, a small-time luchador that Boli sees at a wrestling match. Boli, a devoted fan of lucha, particularly the legendary El Santo, begs Chicano to help him locate his parents. Chicano sees the corruption and grim reality facing Boli and the people of Izayoc; it awakens something in him, and he tries to be the hero that Boli needs. But Chicano also knows a truth that Boli hasn’t learned yet: the world is not a good place.

This is a vicious, heartbreaking story about the end of childhood. It’s a grim, powerful, and beautifully written novel, with unforgettable characters: Boli and Gaby are two siblings struggling to move on with their lives in the most horrifying circumstances; their Abuela escapes into her memories of the past to cope; Chicano is someone who just wanted to get by until he found someone that believed in him. Diederich looks at the morality, or lack of it, using Boli as the lens.

Who do you turn to in a town when everyone can either be bought or murdered? This is the question at the heart of Playing for the Devil’s Fire, and it is a very real question facing many Mexican communities. It’s an eye-opening look into a reality many young people face. Philippe Diederich puts a very human face on the cost of the neverending war on drugs.

This is not a book for middle grade or middle schoolers. There is graphic violence (the story begins with a child finding a decapitated head), language, and overall content that is disturbing and upsetting. I’d suggest this for upper high school, young adult, and adult readers, because it is a brilliantly written book that will make readers think, and hopefully, talk.

Playing for the Devil’s Fire has received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.

Philippe Diederich grew up in Mexico City where he played marbles in the streets and became a fan of lucha libre – pastimes he revisits in Playing for the Devil’s Fire. This is his first novel for young adults, but his short stories have been published in literary journals, and his mystery, Sofrito, is a culinary mystery that travels from Havana to New York City. His author website offers a newsletter and more information.

Playing for the Devil’s Fire Blog Tour

August 31: Rich in Color review  (http://richincolor.com)

Sept 1: The Pirate Tree review & interview (http://www.thepiratetree.com)

Sept 4: Guest Post for Clear Eyes, Full Shelves (www.cleareyesfullshelves.com)

Sept 5: Review, The Brain Lair (http://www.thebrainlair.com)

Sept 6: Rich in Color author interview (http://richincolor.com)

September 7: Edi Campbell CrazyquiltEdi review (https://campbele.wordpress.com)

September 8: Anastasia Suen, #KidLitBookoftheday (asuen.com)

September 9: Reading Through Life author highlight plus links to blog tour  (http://readingtl.blogspot.com)

Sept 9: Guest Post, The Brain Lair (http://www.thebrainlair.com)

September 12: Linda Washington (https://lmarie7b.wordpress.com/ )

September 13: Excerpt, Review, Mom Read it (https://momreadit.wordpress.com)

Posted in Adventure, Fiction, Middle School, Tween Reads

Young Sherlock and Irene Adler Face Off in Sherlock, Lupin, and Me: The Dark Lady

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

sherlock lupin meSherlock, Lupin and Me: The Dark Lady, by Irene Adler. Capstone Young Readers (2014), $12.95, ISBN: 9781623700409

Recommended for ages 9-14

Written by Irene Adler herself, this middle-grade novel details the first time Irene Adler, a young American girl living abroad and vacationing with her mother in a French coastal town, meets Sherlock Holmes and his friend, Lupin. The three become quick friends; when a dead body washes up on the beach one morning, they decide to solve the mysteries surrounding the dead man: who was he? Was this a suicide or a murder, and why?

Woven into the story’s fabric is background information on Holmes and Adler, offering glimpses into life events that led to the adults they become. Adler lives with her mother and her butler, Horatio Nelson, who seems to double as a chaperone/bodyguard. Young Irene is headstrong and willful, seemingly at endless odds with her mother. Sherlock is a quiet, somewhat surly, brilliant boy who’s reticent to discuss his home life; he has an older brother and a younger sister that annoy him. Arsene Lupin, the son of an acrobat, is a reckless young man who has an eye for Irene, but may eventually find himself at odds with the great Sherlock Holmes.

I really enjoyed this story. Middle graders who have already begun studying Sherlock Holmes will enjoy seeing the character development written into this young, teenage Sherlock, and those unfamiliar with Holmes will doubtless enjoy this introduction, easing them into the great sleuth’s world. The writing is fun and accessible to younger readers, and the sets itself up for a potentially exciting continuing series. For starters, will we find out more about Lupin, who ends up being one of the most famous thieves in literature? Will we meet a young Moriarty? A young Lestrade or Watson? And will we find out more about Irene Adler’s parents, who seem very secretive about something to do with Irene?

Jacopo Bruno’s Victorian-type illustrations add a Holmesian feel to each chapter, setting a mood for the reader.

I love the pairing of the world’s greatest detective with the world’s best gentleman thief as teenagers – I can’t wait to see where this series is going to go.

The Capstone Kids site should be getting a minisite up soon, but I didn’t see anything on Sherlock, Lupin and Me at the moment.