A well-developed mystery in which young detectives have fun while saving the day.
A quartet of tweens investigates a theft after the death of a beloved Egyptologist in this middle-grade series starter.
Twins Lexi and Lanny Wyatt and their friends Moki Kalani and Rani Kumar have developed a reputation for solving mysteries in their hometown of Botanic Hill, California. During a visit with one of their neighbors, the recently widowed Mrs. Thornsley, the four find out that her late husband, an Egyptologist colleague of Lanny and Lexi’s parents, was behaving oddly before his death. The young amateur detectives are certain that he had nothing to do with the recent theft of an ancient Egyptian urn from a local research center, of which he’d been accused, so they set out to solve the mystery. Their investigation takes them all over town, to local businesses, zoos, and labs, and they encounter plenty of real, if short-lived, danger along the way. They evade a masked stranger, for example, and meet other suspicious people whose actions make it clear that the kids are indeed investigating a serious crime. The investigators leave the actual law enforcement to the police—with whom they have a special relationship, as Moki’s father is a sergeant—but the kids are the ones who figure out the true circumstances of the urn’s disappearance and save Dr. Thornsley’s reputation. The book ties up various loose ends in its closing pages, but the narrator makes it clear that there will be more adventures in store for the young sleuths. Debut author Joseph has clearly put a great deal of thought into developing the book’s setting, and quirky details, such as the layout of Botanic Hill’s streets—there are 26 east-west streets, all named, in alphabetical order, for plants—give it vibrancy. The four protagonists are distinctly drawn, and Rani’s synesthesia—a condition that Joseph shares with her character, as explained in an author’s note—is presented as noteworthy without defining her. Moki’s Hawaiian heritage is handled less fluidly, however, as his ethnicity is highlighted many times over the course of the text. Secondary characters are also well developed—particularly Bruce Wilding, the twins’ tutor and grudging chauffeur. The dialogue sometimes feels forced; Lanny and Moki excessively call each other “bro,” for instance, and at one point, the villain says, “You kids, you think you’re so smart.” The omniscient narrator also has a taste for melodrama: “She was instantly aware that, to others, her husband might look guilty. But never a doubt entered her mind. She knew her husband could never have had anything to do with this atrocity.” The mystery, however, is solid, with plenty of twists and red herrings that will allow readers to match wits with the Botanic Hill Detective Agency. The Egyptology element is intriguing and informative, with plenty of detail for Egypt enthusiasts (natron and cobra venom each play a role in the mystery). Overall, Joseph has written a fine first volume with plenty of good backstory and clear series potential.
A well-developed mystery in which young detectives have fun while saving the day.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-947392-58-8
Page Count: 205
Publisher: Acorn Publishing, LLC
Review Posted Online: Jan. 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s...
The traumatic homecoming of a wounded warrior.
The daughter of alcoholics who left her orphaned at 17, Jolene “Jo” Zarkades found her first stable family in the military: She’s served over two decades, first in the army, later with the National Guard. A helicopter pilot stationed near Seattle, Jo copes as competently at home, raising two daughters, Betsy and Lulu, while trying to dismiss her husband Michael’s increasing emotional distance. Jo’s mettle is sorely tested when Michael informs her flatly that he no longer loves her. Four-year-old Lulu clamors for attention while preteen Betsy, mean-girl-in-training, dismisses as dweeby her former best friend, Seth, son of Jo’s confidante and fellow pilot, Tami. Amid these challenges comes the ultimate one: Jo and Tami are deployed to Iraq. Michael, with the help of his mother, has to take over the household duties, and he rapidly learns that parenting is much harder than his wife made it look. As Michael prepares to defend a PTSD-afflicted veteran charged with Murder I for killing his wife during a dissociative blackout, he begins to understand what Jolene is facing and to revisit his true feelings for her. When her helicopter is shot down under insurgent fire, Jo rescues Tami from the wreck, but a young crewman is killed. Tami remains in a coma and Jo, whose leg has been amputated, returns home to a difficult rehabilitation on several fronts. Her nightmares in which she relives the crash and other horrors she witnessed, and her pain, have turned Jo into a person her daughters now fear (which in the case of bratty Betsy may not be such a bad thing). Jo can't forgive Michael for his rash words. Worse, she is beginning to remind Michael more and more of his homicide client. Characterization can be cursory: Michael’s earlier callousness, left largely unexplained, undercuts the pathos of his later change of heart.
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s aftermath.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-312-57720-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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