Andy’s next-door neighbors, the Perlmans, ask Andy and Tamika to watch their house for them while they’re in South America. Everything seems fine until one day some strange things begin to happen. Lights mysteriously turn on and off, and some odd trash shows up in the trashcan. But what kind of thief eats Oat Bran Toasties and wears purple stockings? Andy and Tamika decide to begin investigating the strange occurrences after a search by the police turns up empty-handed and Andy’s parents dismiss the events as the product of overactive imaginations. In addition to dealing with the strange events next door, Andy finds himself facing some big changes in his life. His mother is set to give birth to a new baby any day and Andy’s older sister has been acting oddly around him for some time. While hardly great literature, this easy mystery is enhanced with simple line drawings and has a comfort level that will have young readers flying through it to find out exactly what is going on next door. (Fiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-15-216474-X
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Gulliver/Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
In the 22nd McGurk mystery, the kids are on the trail when a reclusive crime writer disappears after putting them in his latest book. There are enough clues, secret codes, false leads, and complications to keep McGurk and his officers hopping, plus appearances by a reformed adversary, Lady Thumb (from The Case of the Four Flying Fingers, 1981), and a shady villain with eyes like the ``tips of a couple of tungsten drills.'' Hildick makes entertaining use of Edgar Allan Poe tales in unraveling this methodically plotted puzzler; suspense and motivation are minimal. (Fiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: June 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-02-743821-X
Page Count: 151
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
Vacationing penguins Gertie and Gus arrive at Holiday Island dressed in their best, only to find themselves at seedy OTEL, where the Bad Guys Club meets, rather than the elegant Hotel de View, which they’d booked. It’s not long before the “rascally rowdies, wretched wharf rats, riffraff, and ruffians,” including the wily weasel, the agile alligator, and other alliterative animals, rip off Gertie’s “beautiful, valuable deep sea pearl.” Enter the Law, spectacularly depicted as a mirror-sunglassed, motorcycle-riding, mean-looking warthog. Questioning ensues, during which readers can spot the miscreant in an array of arresting, clue-filled watercolors based on camera-happy Gus’s Polaroids: “See this picture of a cowboy boot with a bulge in it?” Gus asks, and the chase is on. Far be it from bad guys to pass up a ride in an officer’s sidecar, but Gertie wants speed and tosses them out. The “scummy scallywags” pursue the Law to the Hotel de View and help catch the thief, adding to a high-spirited denouement, in which deGroat (One Small Dog, p. 1118, etc.) illustrates her ability to lampoon snobs as well as lowlifes, a satisfying conclusion to an adventure that shows there’s no place like home. Here is high action, deft characterization to the depth needed, lots of brightly colored pictures, and built-in interactivity in a first chapter book for young mystery fans. (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 1-58717-022-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2000
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