Title: The Dead
Kid Detective Agency
Author: Even Munday
Series: The Dead Kid Detective Agency #1
Published: September 1 2011
Length: 320 pages
Warnings: Comical
fantasy mild threat 9+
Source: Netgalley
Summary: Thirteen-year-old
October Schwartz is new in town; short on friends and the child of a clinically
depressed science teacher, she spends her free time in the Sticksville Cemetery
and so when beloved French teacher dies in a suspicious car accident, it provides
the agency with its first bona fide case, putting them in the midst of a murder
plot thick with car chases, cafeteria fights, and sociopathic math teachers,
and sending them on an adventure that might just uncover the truth about a bomb
that exploded 40 years ago.
Review: October
Scwartz has moved to Sticksville and knows absolutely nobody. The year is set
to be a boring one for an outcast like her...and then her favourite French
teacher, Mr O Shea, mysteriously dies. Is killed. Mulling over the mystery
while in the local graveyard, somehow she summons up a group of child-ghosts.
After a bit of conversation, these dead
children agree to, while they still walk on earth i.e. for the next month, have
a go at helping October find the killer.
This is a typical mystery for the younger audience, with a
few paranormal elements on the side. The plot isn’t the most complex of things,
but is still fun to watch develop and go along with.
It’s often hard to believe that October is only thirteen.
Sometimes she seems much more mature, and sometimes she seems so much younger.
It’s actually quite hard to place her age, if you aren’t explicitly told. Or
maybe it’s just me.
The pacing was alright. At the start, I couldn’t see where
any of it was going. About a third of a way through though, we had a mystery
built and the detectives had been introduced. From then on, it’s fun and a good
ride. It didn’t keep me especially hooked though. I could put it down without
feeling bad about it.
I’d like to say I enjoyed the writing, but I didn't. While
there were the occasional comments aimed directly at you, something I quite
like, especially when they’re witty, like they were in The Dead Kid Detective
Agency, there were many chapters where my understanding was non-existant. Why?
The switching perspective. Now, I’m all for multiple points of view. When you
are clear on who is speaking. Switching perspectives halfway through a chapter,
or once, a sentence? No, no no.
Despite this, I liked this, and the originality it brings to
the younger readers’ market.
Overall: Strength 3 tea to a fun paranormal mystery for
the younger readers.
aww this one sounds like fun! glad you enjoyed!
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