The Postcard by Tony Abbott

Must not be too crabby--I enjoyed this book. I am rather fond of "cozy" mysteries and this one is almost one. The Floridian setting was fun, the vintage postcards were visually appealing, and the film noir type sub story was intriguing.

When Jason's grandmother dies in Florida, he travels down to help his father clean out her house. While there, he finds a string of mysterious clues that lead him and a new friend, Dia, around various landmarks in St. Petersburg where they find pages of a story written by a man with some connection to his grandmother. There are a few problems-- Jason's father is an alcoholic, his grandmother had suffered from many health problems, and Jason's family is slowly falling apart. When the clues finally come together, some of these problems are explained or helped.

This would be a hard sell for my students, because of the heavy emphasis on old people in Florida and the somewhat slow pace. I feel bad, because Mr. Abbott has about 60 books to his credit and I don't have one in my library. I've read several of these, but none clicked.

http://www.tonyabbottbooks.com/