All aboard this lighthearted, old-fashioned whodunit.
An overnight train ride sets the stage for Davey’s debut children’s mystery.
Cora Flash, a precocious 11-year-old girl, is on her way to visit an uncle who lives in a remote mountain area. Traveling alone, she does her best to reassure her mother via the occasional text. While readers tag along on her first-person journey, Cora, ever the observer, investigates the train and chats with her fellow travelers. She notices a suspicious looking man with a “tiny, thin mustache,” wearing a “strange round hat” and tightly clutching a silver briefcase. Always on the lookout for new adventures, Cora is secretly delighted when the word spreads that the famous “Diamond of Madagascar” has been stolen and that the crime occurred on the train. The story then kicks into high gear, à la Agatha Christie. Among the interesting cast of characters is a smart, surly female college student, a honeymooning couple (the husband is endearingly geeky), a stuffy, routine-bound bird watcher, and the cheerful and accommodating porter, Willy. There’s also an irresistible Norfolk terrier named Calvin, who quickly takes to Cora, and an undercover policeman who, upon discovering the crime, reveals himself and separately interviews the suspects. Davey admirably creates unique, believable characters almost solely through narrative and dialogue. In terms of visual descriptions, though, most of the characters get the short shrift, including Cora. With more detailed portrayals, the characters could become all the richer. Though much of the witty dialogue moves at a fairly good clip, it occasionally sounds too affected and drags down the story, which frequently occurs when characters exchange extensive formal pleasantries. Readers are sure to be surprised and tickled when the culprit is finally revealed, and the terrific, satisfying ending promises a sequel.
All aboard this lighthearted, old-fashioned whodunit.Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2012
ISBN: 978-1469933238
Page Count: 182
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Good Guys and Bad get just deserts in the end, and Stanley gets plenty of opportunities to display pluck and valor in this...
Sentenced to a brutal juvenile detention camp for a crime he didn't commit, a wimpy teenager turns four generations of bad family luck around in this sunburnt tale of courage, obsession, and buried treasure from Sachar (Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger, 1995, etc.).
Driven mad by the murder of her black beau, a schoolteacher turns on the once-friendly, verdant town of Green Lake, Texas, becomes feared bandit Kissin' Kate Barlow, and dies, laughing, without revealing where she buried her stash. A century of rainless years later, lake and town are memories—but, with the involuntary help of gangs of juvenile offenders, the last descendant of the last residents is still digging. Enter Stanley Yelnats IV, great-grandson of one of Kissin' Kate's victims and the latest to fall to the family curse of being in the wrong place at the wrong time; under the direction of The Warden, a woman with rattlesnake venom polish on her long nails, Stanley and each of his fellow inmates dig a hole a day in the rock-hard lake bed. Weeks of punishing labor later, Stanley digs up a clue, but is canny enough to conceal the information of which hole it came from. Through flashbacks, Sachar weaves a complex net of hidden relationships and well-timed revelations as he puts his slightly larger-than-life characters under a sun so punishing that readers will be reaching for water bottles.
Good Guys and Bad get just deserts in the end, and Stanley gets plenty of opportunities to display pluck and valor in this rugged, engrossing adventure. (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 978-0-374-33265-5
Page Count: 233
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A snappy mystery that’s full of heart.
A group of bright friends tackles the puzzle of their lives.
Elmwood, New Hampshire, 11-year-old Gina Sparks is small in stature but big on reporting ongoing dramas for the local newspaper with support from her journalist mom. When an unbelievable scoop comes her way, Gina must rely on her tightknit crew of sixth grade best friends whose initials happen to spell GEEK, a label they choose to proudly reclaim. She and science-minded prankster Elena Hernández, theater kid Edgar Feingarten, and driven math genius Kevin Robinson decide to get to the bottom of things when they learn that the Van Houten Toy & Game Company heir made elaborate plans to leave everything to the town of Elmwood before her death—but only if a member of the community could solve an intricate multistep puzzle. Gina hopes that deciphering the clues and finding the missing fortune will be just the thing to revitalize the down-on-its-luck town and bring the Elmwood Tribune back into the black, saving her mom’s job and Gina’s passion project. The GEEKs work together, using their individual talents and deductive reasoning skills to unravel the mystery. Infused with media literacy pointers, such as the difference between fact and opinion and reminders to avoid bias when reporting, the story encourages readers to think critically. Gina and Edgar read as White; Elena is cued as Latinx, and Kevin is implied Black.
A snappy mystery that’s full of heart. (Mystery. 9-13)Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-37793-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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