THE MYSTERIOUS MATTER OF I.M. FINE

A light-heartedly charming mystery for kids who will read and still enjoy a story with an uncomplicated view of the world. Franny’s family moves all the time and her style is to make friends by taking a book to school to see who responds. Right away she meets Beamer and by being observant, they begin to puzzle out a mystery connected to the “Chiller” series of books written by I. M. Fine. Each new book in the series seems to have a different disturbing effect on its readers. When attempting to do some research on the author, Beamer and Franny find even stalwart Something About the Author lets them down. However, following a slim clue given in the first book Fine wrote, the two manage to track down the author and the mystery. The rabid reactions of Fine’s fans to new titles and the mindless following of the crowd will draw appreciative chuckles from kids who may recognize if not themselves, then their friends. As the mystery unfolds, readers will sometimes be ahead of these detectives rooting for them to figure out some of the obvious aspects. Some pieces of the plot seem overly fortuitous, but all make sense within the framework given. Book aficionados will enjoy the realistic details of the search along with laughing over the exaggerated fantasy aspects of the plot. Unpretentiously fun. (Fiction. 9-12)