Published September 3rd 2024 by Aladdin
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Alex and Zoe Sherlock are glad that school is out for the summer, but we start the book seeing that they are in rather a stressful situation with their grandfather; they are all escaping an exploding yacht off the coast in Miami, Florida. How did they get there? Well, it's always nice to have some discretionary income, so the two decide to start a business. Instead of walking dogs or babysitting, they decide to run a detective agency. Zoe does the research and has a solid business plan of passing out flyers and business cards, creating a social media presence, and even enlisting the help of their grandfather as their "director of transportation and logistics". Things get off to a slow start, but the two, along with friends Yadi and Lina, answer a text request for help and go to a local laundromat/coffee shop to meet their client. It turns out to be their mother, who is a lawyer, who has a LOT of concerns about their undertaking. Not only is it dangerous to go around meeting strangers, but she throws a lot of legalese at them. Their grandfather, a former Miami Herald investigative reporter, has an idea; what if they look at his cold case files and find one to research. After looking through the papers from his stuffed storage unit, the kids come up with two likely topics. They can either delve into the case of Murf the Surf, or try to find Al Capone's treasure. Capone's millions win out, and Grandpa assigns them each one of the five W's of journalism. They interview a few people they find through Grandpa's connections, and head out in Grandpa's aquamarine 1964 Cadillac Coupe de Ville to the Crandon Park Zoo to look for the location. They realize the years don't line up, so try another tactic. Yadi has drones, so instead of trekking through the Everglades, they decide to fly them over another likely spot. They find a lot of dead animals when they get near the location, and take a water sample back. What's going on? Zoe, who has been arguing a lot with her parents over the fact that they wouldn't send her to a trendy summer camp with her friends and has been generally surly, decides that the group should give up on the Capone treasure hunt and figure out what it going on. They comb through the footage and find some likely culprits and vehicles. Traveling back to Bailey's Bait and Tackle, they pretend to be filming a documentary, and get more information from Bailey. This leads them to Morris Kane, whose family has run Kane Crystals sugar refinery for decades, as well as local newspapers. They continue the documentary ruse with him, and find out plenty of information, and even identify one of his workers as a person in the video. When Lina leaves her recording device running when the group is asked to leave the room, she feels bad, especially since the mother has made the group carry consent forms and observe all the legal niceties before interviewing anyone. The kids have the grandfather listen to the tape, and he says it has nothing interesting... but it does. There is more than toxic waste dumping going on; the possibility that Kane and his cronies are illegally counterfeiting money MIGHT be the reason the CIA's Dale Tyree was called in after the kids were rescued from the yacht. If the CIA is involved, how big a deal is this? Once we catch up with the legal troubles caused by the yacht incident, there turns out to be a lot more at stake. Will the Sherlock Society have its first successful investigation?
Alex and Zoe Sherlock are glad that school is out for the summer, but we start the book seeing that they are in rather a stressful situation with their grandfather; they are all escaping an exploding yacht off the coast in Miami, Florida. How did they get there? Well, it's always nice to have some discretionary income, so the two decide to start a business. Instead of walking dogs or babysitting, they decide to run a detective agency. Zoe does the research and has a solid business plan of passing out flyers and business cards, creating a social media presence, and even enlisting the help of their grandfather as their "director of transportation and logistics". Things get off to a slow start, but the two, along with friends Yadi and Lina, answer a text request for help and go to a local laundromat/coffee shop to meet their client. It turns out to be their mother, who is a lawyer, who has a LOT of concerns about their undertaking. Not only is it dangerous to go around meeting strangers, but she throws a lot of legalese at them. Their grandfather, a former Miami Herald investigative reporter, has an idea; what if they look at his cold case files and find one to research. After looking through the papers from his stuffed storage unit, the kids come up with two likely topics. They can either delve into the case of Murf the Surf, or try to find Al Capone's treasure. Capone's millions win out, and Grandpa assigns them each one of the five W's of journalism. They interview a few people they find through Grandpa's connections, and head out in Grandpa's aquamarine 1964 Cadillac Coupe de Ville to the Crandon Park Zoo to look for the location. They realize the years don't line up, so try another tactic. Yadi has drones, so instead of trekking through the Everglades, they decide to fly them over another likely spot. They find a lot of dead animals when they get near the location, and take a water sample back. What's going on? Zoe, who has been arguing a lot with her parents over the fact that they wouldn't send her to a trendy summer camp with her friends and has been generally surly, decides that the group should give up on the Capone treasure hunt and figure out what it going on. They comb through the footage and find some likely culprits and vehicles. Traveling back to Bailey's Bait and Tackle, they pretend to be filming a documentary, and get more information from Bailey. This leads them to Morris Kane, whose family has run Kane Crystals sugar refinery for decades, as well as local newspapers. They continue the documentary ruse with him, and find out plenty of information, and even identify one of his workers as a person in the video. When Lina leaves her recording device running when the group is asked to leave the room, she feels bad, especially since the mother has made the group carry consent forms and observe all the legal niceties before interviewing anyone. The kids have the grandfather listen to the tape, and he says it has nothing interesting... but it does. There is more than toxic waste dumping going on; the possibility that Kane and his cronies are illegally counterfeiting money MIGHT be the reason the CIA's Dale Tyree was called in after the kids were rescued from the yacht. If the CIA is involved, how big a deal is this? Once we catch up with the legal troubles caused by the yacht incident, there turns out to be a lot more at stake. Will the Sherlock Society have its first successful investigation?
Strengths: I know that middle grade authors often kill off a parent or two so that children can have unimpeded adventures, but really, how far can the average 12 year old get WITHOUT an aquamarine Cadillac? Pairing up a sometimes unwise adult with a group of kids, and putting them all against an adult who wants ridiculous things like their safety and security, and there's so much more interesting tension than watching a tween deal with the grieving process, which is, while heart wrenching, often just dull to read about! Big, big bonus points, since the marine biologist father also comes in handy. The fact that the mother went so far as to bait the kids and then scuttle their plans... brilliant. There are many very well thought out things in this book. Ponti has clearly spent time in schools, and has realistic interchanges in the school setting, although I personally am not setting up any escape rooms for any clubs in my library or genrefying it! (I really, really dislike games of any kind and, well, don't feel much different about genrefying.) Not only that, but he cleverly takes some middle grade tropes and then upends them. I had my doubts about the investigative business, but that turned into looking for treasure. Not super thrilled about that, although it can have its moments, but then there's another twist... they have to solve an environmental mystery. That's when it got interesting, and the fact that the CIA is involved and this is actually a dangerous case makes this one that middle grade readers will love. This will also work for adults as well, since Grandpa is one happening guy; I sort of want to know about his date when the Everglades creature that stowed away in his car jumped on his friend! I'll definitely be interested in looking at the next book in this series, as will my students!
Weaknesses: Did I miss Grandpa's name? As one of the best grandfather figures out there, he deserved a name, and I'm sorry if I didn't write it down.
What I really think: This read like the work of Carl Hiaasen, if Hiaasen had a better feel for what middle graders wanted, and spent a bit of time including a ton of Miami history. Ponti's Framed is the closet read alike, and Stuart Gibbs' books are always somewhat similar. As for other books? You almost have to head over to spy books to get this level of excitement. Gerber's The Liar's Society comes close.
Weaknesses: Did I miss Grandpa's name? As one of the best grandfather figures out there, he deserved a name, and I'm sorry if I didn't write it down.
What I really think: This read like the work of Carl Hiaasen, if Hiaasen had a better feel for what middle graders wanted, and spent a bit of time including a ton of Miami history. Ponti's Framed is the closet read alike, and Stuart Gibbs' books are always somewhat similar. As for other books? You almost have to head over to spy books to get this level of excitement. Gerber's The Liar's Society comes close.
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September 10, 2024 by Fabled Films Press
ARC provided by the publisher
Hannah lives in the small town of Riverway, population 2000. The area was fairly prosperous, with a booming canola industry that has fallen on hard times as the river has dried up. Hannah's father, who ran a large farming concern, has been missing for four months, and she is determined to find out what happened to him. The local law enforcement has done little, along Rick, one of the officers, stops by weekly to give Hannah's mother an update. Her father's brother, Fergus, is being very helpful, taking care of Hannah and her mother, but there's something that seems off about his involvement. When Hannah's best friend, Sam, sees a ghost that looks like her father at the Old Grain Mill, the two launch into an investigation, using the "grief journal" her mother has given her to take case notes. After consulting a Ouija board, and thinking about the history of ghosts at the mill, Hannah visits the site, and sure enough, a ghost talks to her. It warns her about Fergus, and tells her to look for a pump. At school, Hannah, who struggles with ADHD, has trouble paying attention in class and getting her work in, and has to meet with Ms. Grant, a school counselor she does not like. When she sees a piece of her father's stationery that Ms. Grant is trying to hide in her files, she and Sam asks another classmate, Tim, to help them retrieve the paper. Since Ms. Grant has been saying Fergus, she's definitely suspicious, and the note indicates that Fergus is glad Hannah is getting counseling, but that her mother should not really be bothered with this fact. When Hannah finds out that her mother is going to give 50% of the farm to Fergus, since he's been helping to run it, she's very concerned. Unable to find the pump after several visits to the suggested area, Hannah and Sam sneak away from a school trip to Fergus' farm and try to locate the mysterious pump. Has Fergus really been doing something illegal that has caused the local river to dry up? And did he have a part in his father's death?
Strengths: This was definitely a fantasy book, with ghosts having conversations with several characters. The ghosts aren't scary or murderous, and do give Hannah and Sam some good clues to follow. Younger readers will like the variety of formats, which include transcripts of conversations as well as journal entries. I liked the environmental tie in with the dropping water levels in the lake and the need to irrigate crops. There are some descriptions of how Hannah's ADHD affects her school performance, and since there are so many students who have some level of this disorder, it's good to see that representation in literature.
Weaknesses: This had a lot of description and a rather slow pace, and I'm not sure my students would get the Hamlet allusions. Ms. Grant was a little over the top, and seemed awfully intrusive. It was a little surprising that Hannah's mother didn't have her in some kind of grief counseling. For younger readers, the ending, where it is very briefly revealed what happened to Hannah's father, might be disturbing.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who like a gentle mystery with some clues and supernatural elements, like Lyall's Waking the Dead and Other Fun Activities or Reese's Puzzleheart.
I will pass on purchasing, as this doesn't have the level of excitement my students like to see in mysteries.
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