A modern Nancy Drew replacement grounded in current technology but largely reliant on brain power and courage.
Plucky 17-year-old investigator Francie is back for the concluding episode of a trilogy set in Minnesota.
Francie has discovered a small silver box that is somehow connected to her mother’s mysterious disappearance 13 years earlier. The additional discovery of a mysterious abandoned cabin in the woods awakens vague memories of when her mother went away, all clues to opening the tricky puzzle box and locating a vital (but forgetful) elderly woman in a nursing home. Aided by her pal Raven and Jay, another classmate, Francie follows clues she hopes will lead to her mother. Although a few red herrings add uncertainty, the villains remain largely hidden from readers, leaving the mystery mostly unsolvable even to clever armchair sleuths until the evildoers eventually reveal themselves. Brief environmental messages crop up frequently and are only mildly didactic. Although the mystery and its resolution rely on sometimes improbably convenient happenstance, Francie’s plausibly intrepid nature (and remarkable lack of reliance on adults) keeps the plot moving at an engaging pace, and the wintry Northwoods setting provides an appealing backdrop. Although the mostly White characters are only sparingly depicted, Raven talks about biased treatment and double standards she experiences as an Ojibwe person.
A modern Nancy Drew replacement grounded in current technology but largely reliant on brain power and courage. (Mystery. 11-16)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5179-0968-0
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Univ. of Minnesota
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
Authorial tics aside, an engaging tale with a resilient heroine, a dead but lively supporting cast and enough wit to grease...
A goth teen meets ghosts, uncovers a murder and even gets a little (very little) work done on her horror novel in this mannered but entertaining prose debut.
October considers the cemetery next to her new house a nice touch, as her single father is clinically depressed and she’s been dubbed a “Zombie Tramp” by mean girl Ashlie Salmons just moments after entering the “teenaged Thunderdome” of her new Ontario high school. At least she can work on her magnum opus, Two Knives, One Thousand Demons, among the tombstones—except that just reading a spell from the book calls up the friendly but rambunctious ghosts of five local teens killed over the past two centuries. Then her favorite teacher is crushed beneath a car. The police call it an accident, but October’s not so sure…and with help from her motley crew of ectoplasmic allies sets out to discover the truth. Switching frequently for no evident reason between first and third person and occasionally interjecting authorial comments, Munday interweaves a brisk tale of high-school hatreds with an investigation that ultimately leads back to terrorist acts committed 40 years before and culminates in a wild Halloween climax. Munday, a cartoonist, tucks in black-and-white spot portraits and closes with notes on characters and cultural references.
Authorial tics aside, an engaging tale with a resilient heroine, a dead but lively supporting cast and enough wit to grease the wheels. (Detective fantasy. 12-15)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-55022-971-4
Page Count: 300
Publisher: ECW Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In this debut Canadian import, Charlie’s father slips him a key just before dying. With only one other relative, Uncle Nick,...
Thirteen-year-old Charlie inherits just one thing from his troubled dad: a key. What it’s for might be revealed by his thuggish uncle, who’s now relentlessly stalking him.
In this debut Canadian import, Charlie’s father slips him a key just before dying. With only one other relative, Uncle Nick, whose long prison stint for two murders is just ending, he’s sent to a brutal juvenile detention center while Child Services seeks a more permanent placement. Charlie, intrepid and amusing, escapes with the help of Frankie, a newly released teen inmate, and Clare, a girl who is addicted to “Oxys.” Nick, with a badly scarred hand, which he uses to good effect to threaten people, weaves in and out of Charlie’s first-person narrative as the boy evades his sinister presence as well as authorities who don’t truly seem to have his best interests in mind. While foggy cliffs and colorful villages effectively evoke the exotic Newfoundland setting, it’s the mystery that moves the tale forward. It is not only focused on the purpose of the key, but also on Charlie’s need to discover his father’s role in the murder of possibly pedophilic Brother of the Holy Order. The sexual abuse at an orphanage, briefly described, is based on actual events.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-55469-872-1
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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