Tag: whodunit

Posted in Animal Fiction, Fiction, Fiction, Intermediate, Middle Grade

Got a mystery? Fabio the World’s Great Flamingo Detective is on the case

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Fabio: The Case of the Missing Hippo (Fabio the World’s Greatest Flamingo Detective), by Laura James/Illustrated by Emily Fox, (Aug. 2019, Bloomsbury USA) $16.99, ISBN: 9781547602179

Ages 7-10

Originally published in the UK in 2018, Fabio – a pink flamingo who bills himself as the World’s Greatest Flamingo Detective – and his sidekick a giraffe named Gilbert, are a mystery-solving duo whose first mystery involves a lavish hotel, a talent show, and a missing hippo. Fabio and Gilbert drop by the Hotel Royale to get a relaxing glass of pink lemonade, but end up stumbling into a mystery when Julia, a singing hippo, disappears right as she and her band start their jazz set at the hotel’s talent show tryouts. Fabio has a list of suspects, and using some old-fashioned detective work, he intends to save the day.

Fabio’s first adventure is an easy, fun read with humorous moments aplenty. The book is illustrated and 2- and 3-color artwork, with day-glo pink and green pages, and pink and green accents to the grey and white artwork. There are a host of animal characters with larger-than-life personalities, including a cranky vulture hotelier and his idealistic niece, a shifty snake, and a bossy rhino. Hot pink endpapers feature Fabio in a variety of poses. Fabio’s second adventure is publishing in the U.S. next year; this is a cute animal series and a fun change for your mystery buffs that have gone through your Boxcar Children, A to Z Mysteries, Cam Jansen, and more. Display this with Alex T. Smith’s Mr. Penguin series (Book 2 just came out; Book 3 is due next month) for your animal adventure readers.

There’s a free, downloadable activity pack available from the publisher, and author Laura James has loads of fun stuff to download from both Fabio books and her Pug series. Illustrator Emily Fox’s website also has fun downloadables, including Fabio goodies and her Monkey’s Sandwich and Elephant’s Pajamas books.

Posted in Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

A whodunit with a twist: The Color of Lies by CJ Lyons

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Color of Lies, by CJ Lyons, (Nov. 2018, Blink YA Books), $17.99, ISBN: 978-0-310-765356

Ages 14+

This is one heck of a mystery. High school senior Ella lives with her grandmother and Uncle Joe after an accident orphaned her as a toddler. Her father’s best friend and business partner, Darrin, treats her like a favorite niece and has cultivated her father’s business into a solid foundation to keep Ella safe and comfortable. That all changes when Max shows up: Max, the journalism student consumed with Ella’s story, because what Ella’s been told isn’t how it happened. Max knows, because Max was there that night, too.

This is a wild ride. You think you know what’s going on, and CJ Lyons politely smirks and shakes a finger in your literary face, crafting a plot that left me dumbfounded. Adding a main character with synesthesia – a condition that wreaks havoc on the senses, and, in Ella’s case, allows her “read” people through their colorful auras – adds nice depth to the characters. There is a lot of storytelling here – at times, to the detriment of pacing – but overall, this is a good mystery, with a touch of romance, that teens will like.

CJ Lyons’s author webpage includes medical and forensic links and the opportunity to download some of her work for free.

Posted in Uncategorized

White Rabbit: A YA Whodunit

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

White Rabbit, by Caleb Roehrig, (Apr. 2018, Feiwel & Friends), $17.99, ISBN: 9781250085658

Recommended for readers 13+

Rufus Holt started out having a great evening at his best friend’s birthday party, but things have gone downhill pretty quickly. His ex-boyfriend, Sebastian – who ghosted him after Rufus told him he loved him – showed up at the party, looking for him, and his younger half-sister, April, called him and begged for his help. When Rufus and Sebastian head over to Fox Whitney’s place, where his sister was partying with the other rich, in-crowd teens, they find April holding a bloody knife, and Fox, laying dead in a pool of blood. Thus starts White Rabbit, a first-person narrated whodunit.

Rufus is the bastard son of a wealthy lawyer who refuses to acknowledge him. Unfortunately for Rufus, his half-siblings notice him just fine. He’s the school outcast, bullied and harassed by his borderline sociopath half-brother and his friends, and their rich kid crowd. When he came out, the abuse ratcheted up several notches, but Rufus refuses to break. He starts seeing Sebastian – one of the rich kid in-crowd – on the down-low, but Sebastian broke things off in a panic, afraid of how his parents would react. But Sebastian is back, and wants to try to patch things up with Rufus, so he rides along  as Rufus spends the night frantically trying to clear April’s name so he can get a payoff from her mother. The killer is still lurking, and systematically killing off anyone who can tie him – or her – to the night’s events, and Rufus is asking way too many questions.

White Rabbit is similar to Natasha Preston’s The Cabin: a group of awful teens with too much money get into trouble and the outcast has to save the day. The pace is fast, and the subplot surrounding Rufus and Sebastian’s relationship will pull readers in and keep them turning pages. Rufus can be a frustrating hero at points; his motivation to help April before the money came into play still makes me scratch my head, but Sebastian emerges as the deeper, more interesting character to follow here. Give this book to your thriller fans.

Posted in Fiction, Fiction, Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Tween Reads

An unexpected mystery and a group of Ghastlies: Death and Douglas

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Death and Douglas, by J.W. Ocker, (Sept. 2017, Sky Pony Press), $16.99, ISBN: 978-1-5107-2457-0

Good for readers 8-12

Twelve year-old Douglas Mortimer gets Death. His family runs the local funeral home in a small New England town named Cowlmouth; he learned how to tie a tie by putting them on the corpses before viewing. There’s a morgue downstairs in his home. Dressed in his suits and impeccable ties, he’s ready to take over the family business one day. For Douglas, death is just part of life: he’s more comfortable with it than most adults are, let alone kids. Until the murders begin. Someone is killing people in Douglas’s sleepy little town, and carving letters into the victims’ faces. Douglas understands death, but murder is just unnatural. It’s wrong. And it scares him. He and his best friend, Lowell – the police chief’s son – and his new friend, Amber – an ambulance driver’s daughter, decide they need to get to the bottom of this mystery. Calling themselves the Ghastlies, they start their own investigation, which could put them right in the killer’s sights.

Death and Douglas is fascinating – not many middle grade novels are going to be this frank about death and its place in the natural order of things. It’s a relief; it addresses the routines and rituals involved in passing, as part of Douglas’s parents’ work, with no overwrought emotion. In fact, when a group of  self-nominated “guardian angels” try to suggest that Douglas’s upbringing is unwholesome, his father fires back, stating that his understanding allows him the strength to help others who have lost loved ones. His family may shelter him from some of the grimmer parts of the business – he is only 12 – but Douglas’s parents are very forward about death as a part of life. The characters are well-crafted; believable, and equal parts hilarious and conflicted – kind of like real kids. I’d love to see what the Ghastlies have in store for the future. Until then, I’ll just have to settle for foisting this book on the kids in my library. Give this one to your mystery fans for sure.

Author JW Ocker’s site, Odd Things I’ve Seen, is truly worth a look.

Posted in Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Bad Girl Gone: Revenge beyond the grave?

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Bad Girl Gone, by Temple Mathews (Sept. 2017, Thomas Dunne for St. Martin’s Group), $17.99, ISBN: 9781250058812

Recommended for readers 13+

Echo is a 16 year-old girl who wakes up in a dark room; no idea where she is, no idea how she got there. She soon discovers that she’s in a place called Middle House; think of it as Limbo for teens who met brutal and unfair ends. Each of the teens has a special gift to help them bring their killers to justice; only then can they head toward the light. After Echo finally accepts that she is dead, and that she was murdered, she sets out to find out who killed her and why, while also helping her boyfriend, Andy, move on with his life.

This is an absolute teen revenge fantasy. Echo discovers that she wasn’t the nice girl she thought she was in life, and her boyfriend is so devastated after her loss that he contemplates suicide to be with her, and she gets to have a cute fellow ghost boy fall for her, too. All the teen residents of Middle House have paranormal gifts to help them get back at their murderers so they can move on to the afterlife, righting the ultimate wrong – but Echo gets a different choice. I didn’t love Echo or any of the characters in Bad Girl Gone, but it works for a light paranormal fiction reader. Bad Girl Gone is a quick read with an interesting plot twist, good for an additional purchase where you need more fiction.

Posted in Horror, Middle Grade, Tween Reads

Dark middle grade fantasy: Room of Shadows

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Room of Shadows, by Ronald Kidd, (Aug. 2017, Albert Whitman), $16.99, ISBN: 9780807568057

Recommended for readers 10-13

David finds himself with a lot of anger lately. I mean, it’s justified: his dad abandoned his mom, and they’ve been forced to move into this creepy old house. When a school bully messes with him on a bad day, David beats him up, earning some in-house grounding from his mom. That’s where he discovers the room: a secret room with an old desk and a carving of a Raven, signed, “EP”. The weird dreams start shortly after. When the incidents start at school, all involving people who David’s tangled with, everyone starts looking at him differently, including his mom and the police. How can David prove he isn’t The Raven – the person responsible for the incidents, who leaves a signed note each time? And how can he keep himself safe from The Raven, who’s fixated on him?

With a background in Edgar Allan Poe’s history, I dove eagerly into Room of Shadows. The author takes Poe into very dark territory here, for reasons that become clear as the story progresses. It’s an interesting concept, but one I had a hard time with. I didn’t really get to know David or his best friend, Libby; I felt like their character development took more of a backseat, allowing the Poe storyline to drive the plot. I did like the nod to some of Poe’s greatest hits in the story, including The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat, and The Pit and the Pendulum; it’s always great to discover Poe in new fiction. This one wasn’t my book, but middle grade horror fans who are ready for something weightier than Goosebumps and Haunted Mansion may sit down with this one.

Posted in Fiction, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Middle Grade

The Gray Twins reunite in The Whispers in the Walls

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Scarlet and Ivy: The Whispers in the Walls, by Sophie Cleverly, (May 2017, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky), $7.99, ISBN: 9781492634065

Recommended for readers 8-12

When we left Ivy Gray at the dismal Rookwood School, she had just found her lost twin, Scarlet; hidden away in an asylum by the tyrannical headmistress, who told her family that Scarlet was dead. Masquerading as Scarlet, Ivy attended Rookwood and discovered the truth about a great many secrets. The Whispers in the Walls picks up just as Ivy reunites with Scarlet and they go home, only to have their spineless father and cruel stepmother send the two girls back. Back to the school that hid one daughter in an asylum and lie about her death. Their father drops them off with a “But it’s different now, it’s still a very good school with a new headmaster”, and has the nerve to tell them he loves them after that, securing a Father of the Year award sometime in the future, I’m sure.

Things aren’t wonderful back at Rookwood. Penny, Scarlet and Ivy’s tormenting nemesis, is still there, and she’s worse than ever. Violet, Penny’s best friend, and bullying accomplice, the girl who was also hidden away at the same asylum, is sent back to Rookwood, but is quiet, withdrawn, and now rooming with Ariadne. Scarlet is insufferable to such a degree, Ivy finds herself distancing from her twin. The headmaster, the sinister Mr. Bartholomew, is a fanatical disciplinarian whose punishments go beyond reason.

The girls are thrown back into this maelstrom, with most of the student body none the wiser. But there are new secrets discovered at Rookwood; secrets about Mr. Bartholomew himself; a secret group of students from the past that may include Scarlet and Ivy’s mother, and another girl rescued from the asylum, hiding in the school.

The Whispers in the Walls is a good follow-up to The Lost Twin, but Scarlet is nearly insufferable. She’s difficult for the mere sake of being difficult, and may put off readers as much as she does her twin sister. Ivy remains a strong character who continues developing through the story; I hope she rubs off on Scarlet for future adventures. The new headmaster, Mr. Bartholomew, continues the tradition of awful school management – Rookwood seems set to go through headmasters and headmistresses like Hogwarts goes through Defense of the Dark Arts professors. There are several story threads presented in The Whispers in the Walls, only a couple of which are resolved; I’m looking forward to seeing where the third book takes us.

Posted in Historical Fiction, Teen, Tween Reads, Young Adult/New Adult

Regency romance and mystery: Duels & Deception

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Duels & Deception, by Cindy Anstey, (Apr. 2017, Macmillan/Swoon Reads), $10.99, ISBN: 9781250119094

Recommended for readers 12+

It’s 1817, and Lydia Whitfield is an English society heiress with her future planned out for her – even her marriage partner is planned for her, thanks to her departed father. She will run the family estate until her marriage, when Lord Aldershot, her intended, will take over the day to day work. Until then, her drunkard uncle and his unbearable wife and daughters are living at Roseberry Hall with Lydia and her mother. She wants to be free of her meddling uncle, so she contacts Mr. Robert Newton, a law clerk, to begin drawing up marriage contracts, and everything seems to be progressing nicely. Until Lydia is kidnapped!

Lydia is taken as she’s about to meet with Mr. Newton regarding the contracts, and he ends up a victim of circumstance; first kidnapped with her, then rudely thrown out of the coach. But the kidnappers aren’t very thorough, and make it way too easy for Lydia to escape (with Robert’s help). Lydia starts wondering if the kidnapping had far deeper motives than a ransom, and Mr. Newton is too happy to help her investigate. After all, it keeps him close to Lydia, who he finds himself falling for… and she feels the same about him. Can the two get to the bottom of the plot and work through their feelings for one another while maintaining a sense of propriety?

Duels & Deception is a fun mix of proper Regency romance and a complex whodunit. The kidnapping comes with an interesting twist that stands out, and the main characters engage in witty, flirty banter that is sweet and funny. I did struggle with the pace of the novel at times, but overall, romance and historical fiction fans will enjoy this one. A glossary and discussion questions round out the book.

Duels & Deception was named one of Entertainment Weekly‘s 35 Most Anticipated YA Novels of 2017 and received a starred review from Voya magazine. Add Cindy Anstey’s previous historical romance, Love, Lies & Spies to your booktalking list, and spice it up a little with some superpowers, courtesy of Tarun Shanker’s These Vicious Masks series.

Posted in Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Rollin’ with the Royces: YA’s answer to the K… well, you know…

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Royce Rolls, by Margaret Stohl, (Apr. 2016, Freeform), $18.99, ISBN: 9781484732335

Recommended for readers 12+

Sixteen year-old Bentley Royce is the “bad girl” member of the Royces, reality TV’s family du jour. Her family: Mercedes, her narcissistic, media-obsessed mother; Porsche, her self-absorbed sister, and her brother, Maybach, who may or may not be nurturing a gambling addiction, live the high life in the spotlight – or is that the camera glare? The thing is, it’s all an act. Bentley is the classic middle child, overlooked and unheard; the one who takes one for the team when the family needs her, whether it’s pretending to be drunk and staggering out of a nightclub or sticking her tongue out for the cameras in true “Bad Bentley” character mode. But things aren’t looking so good for the Royces as of late: the show’s sixth season is up in the air, and Mercedes is desperate to keep her family’s business on the air, no matter how outrageous the shenanigans have to be to stay there. Looks like it’s up to Bentley to pull the family out of the fire one more time.

Royce Rolls is a biting send-up of all things reality TV, taking gleeful aim at shows like that show where everyone’s name starts with a K because the matriarK Klearly needs all the attention the world Kan give. Loaded with “footnotes” from various show insiders and taking a seemingly vapid character and giving readers an inside view of the “reality” machine, we get satire, a whodunit, and a brilliant reference to Stohl’s Black Widow novels (my favorite part of the book).

The novel is narrated through press releases, news clips, and a third-party narrator. There are plenty of pop culture and reality TV references for readers to spot and laugh at; the emphasis here is on the fact that reality TV is NOT real – they have writers and character treatments, just like any fictional show. It’s about the breakdown and redemption of a family, with a mother who would sell her daughter’s first period on television to get viewers and a Hollywood machine that treats people as disposable. And it’s about how one person can decide to finally say, “Enough”.

I didn’t love Royce Rolls, in part because I found most of the characters exasperating and in part because I’m sick of 99% of reality TV. (I have my vices, I am human.) But I did enjoy it; teens will get a kick out of the references, the unexpected romance, and the satisfying ending.

Posted in Espionage, Fiction, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Humor, Middle Grade

Introducing Pops and Branwell, an all-ages teamup!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

shortcon_1The Short Con, by Pete Toms/Illustrated by  Aleks Sennwald, (Feb. 2017, Alternative Comics), $9.95, ISBN: 9781681480084

Recommended for ages 8-12

In the first installment of a new mystery teamup, Pops and Branwell – two orphans in an orphanage that’s a cover for a full-scale detective operation run by kids – take on their first mystery: who killed Branwell’s parents, and what does her Uncle Lamb know?

This is an all-ages graphic novel that’s too much fun; taking on the hard-boiled detective genre with kids. Branwell is the new kid, the only survivor of the fire that destroyed her life. “Pops” is the seasoned detective that takes her under her wing, with a smart comment and nickname for everyone around her. (My favorite was “Sylvia Plath” for the disconsolate Branwell.) Being assigned the new girl doesn’t sit right with Pops, who prefers to work alone, but it creates a hilarious relationship between polar opposites. The supporting cast includes a nun who wonderfully apes the frustrated boss, and a John Watson-type fangirl, who writes fanfiction adventures where she inserts herself and a “hot guy” into the detectives’ adventures. The conclusion is laugh-out-loud hilarious, and the ending left me happily waiting for another installment.

Booktalk this with your Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and Encyclopedia Brown series. It would also work nicely with the Series of Unfortunate Events, which is getting renewed interest thanks to the Netflix series. Display with any Adventure Time graphic novels you have around; artist Aleks Senwald is a writer and storyboard artist for the series.

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