Loosely linked by references and cameos to The Black Book of Secrets (2007), this “paraquel” spins its wheels through the muck-encrusted streets of Urbs Umida, dropping both corpses and more Dickensian-style characters into the mix. Hired by an undertaker for eerie nighttime vigils, young Pin is amazed to see a cadaver supposedly reanimated by magician Benedict Pantagus and his herbalist assistant, Juno. When heavily contrived circumstances throw Pin and Juno together, Pin becomes as determined to discover her secrets as he is to clear the name of his vanished father, who is accused of murder. Meanwhile, journalist (and freak-show escapee) Deodonatus Snoad gleefully chronicles the crimes of the “Silver Apple Killer,” who casts electrocuted victims into the evocatively named River Foedus, and the hideous Gluttonous Beast terrifies paying crowds at the bustling Nimble Finger tavern. Higgins introduces a large cast, proceeds to kill part of it off, then closes by freeing the Gluttonous Beast and setting Pin and Juno on the road out of town. Further episodes may bring some plot resolution—but don’t bet on it. (Fantasy. 11-13)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-36845-6
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PLB 0-688-15338-0 Sometimes the way the cookie crumbles is a saving grace, particularly in this clever spoof on a hard-boiled detective tale, set inside the cookie jar. The “tough cookie” who narrates is a trenchcoat-wearing, gruff detective who came from a good family—“Lots of dough. Lived the high life. Top of the Jar.” But when he hit bottom, he became a P.I. Now he’s tracking the culprit who’s making mayhem out of the cookie jar by snatching away cookies such as the Pfefferneuses, and roughing up the tough cookie’s partner, Chips. Some quick thinking on the part of the P.I.’s delicious (a politically correct adjective, in this case) former girlfriend, Pecan Sandy, and a crowd of cookie crumbs thwarts the greedy fingers once and for all. The hero gets his man—or hand—and the girl. Wisniewski (The Secret Knowledge of Grown-Ups, 1998, etc.) is dead-on witty, while his torn-paper collages have a authentically crumbly look. The puns are numerous, but good, and visual details’such as the map of the Jar, a wanted poster showing the shadowy outline “Fingers,” and more—guarantee lots of giggles for onlookers young and old. (Picture book. 4-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-688-15337-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1999
Readers fond of lightweight mysteries solved by spunky heroines will take to this fiction debut, though a heavy ballast of tragedy and near-tragedy keeps it low to the ground. Having used the discovery of an empty hunting cabin as an excuse to form a secret club, Iris and four friends spin news reports of missing carnival receipts and the (supposedly) accidental death of the cabin’s owner, Ol’ Man Hazard, into an exciting scenario involving hidden loot and murder. Then they find a cryptic rhymed clue that mentions treasure, which they take as a broad hint that they’re on the right track. The story is carried along on sad undercurrents: Iris, called “illegitimate” by another girl in the opening pages, learns that her parents weren’t married when her father was killed in the Korean War; her tough grandmother is rushed to the hospital with severe pneumonia; Iris sets fire to the cabin and nearly suffocates inside; and the reclusive Ol’ Lady Hazard, thought to be a witch and chief suspect in her husband’s death, turns out to be the sickly, abused widow of a cruel alcoholic. While the plot never develops a compelling pace, and the story’s lessons are laid out in a concluding book report on Silas Marner, some of the dialogue and set pieces show a promising authorial gift for comedy. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1999
ISBN: 0-8234-1467-1
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1999
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