A thrilling and thoughtful period murder mystery.
In this Swedish import, 12-year-old orphan Mika gets wrapped up in a murder investigation.
Set in 1880 Stockholm, this story opens with Mika receiving a new admit at the Public Children’s Home, a mysterious baby handed to her by a boy who then vanishes into the night. But that’s not the only odd happening of the night—there is also a murder. Detective Valdemar Hoff, who’s looking into the murder, interviews Mika and is struck by how observant she is. A vulnerable orphan treated as disposable, Mika eventually explains that her survival depends on paying close attention to her surroundings. As the two investigate together, they realize that the murder resembles the work of the Night Raven, a serial killer who once terrorized Stockholm—and who was executed last year. Mika is clever, scrappy, determined, and moral, all of which makes her a compelling hero. Rundberg’s sharp writing gives readers a window into the underside of a desperate city grappling with a devastating winter, police corruption, and the cruel indifference of many of its residents. Valdemar makes a good partner for Mika, rough-looking and no-nonsense, oblivious that others have much less privilege than him, yet governed by a strict sense of right and wrong. This gripping, fast-paced mystery comes together well, with Mika’s deductions based firmly in logic and connections based in her own clear observations. The climax requires Mika to be as bold as she is clever, and the resolution promises more mysteries. Characters are cued as White.
A thrilling and thoughtful period murder mystery. (Historical thriller. 9-14)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781662509582
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Amazon Crossing Kids
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
An environmental mystery featuring lots of clever detecting, a bit of danger, and real felonies to investigate.
Toxic waste dumped in the Everglades gives a quartet of middle school sleuths their first case.
Leading Carl Hiaasen fans over familiar ground, Ponti pitches 12-year-old Alex Sherlock and his 13-year-old sister, Zoe, with school friends Lina and Yadi as sidekicks, into a summer caper. It all begins with the hunt for a supposed fortune buried decades ago by Al Capone, culminates in a narrow escape from an exploding yacht, and ultimately exposes a smooth-talking bad actor shady enough to bring in even federal authorities. As the kids’ live-in Grandpa, a retired investigative reporter, delivers pointers on how to conduct interviews and sift evidence while grandly driving them around South Florida in his classic Cadillac, Roberta, the budding detectives display sharp wits, eyes, and negotiating skills. The last come in particularly useful when they’re dealing with their lawyer…who’s also their mom. Both the plot and the chain of evidence take logical courses, and since Dad is a marine biologist and Lina’s a recent transplant from Wyoming, Ponti is able to use their dialogue to highlight the local culture and larger ecological issues. Main characters present white, apart from tech wiz Yadi, who is cued Latine.
An environmental mystery featuring lots of clever detecting, a bit of danger, and real felonies to investigate. (Mystery. 9-13)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9781665932530
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
Fast-paced and plot-driven.
In his latest, prolific author Gratz takes on Hitler’s Olympic Games.
When 13-year-old American gymnast Evie Harris arrives in Berlin to compete in the 1936 Olympic Games, she has one goal: stardom. If she can bring home a gold medal like her friend, the famous equestrian-turned-Hollywood-star Mary Brooks, she might be able to lift her family out of their Dust Bowl poverty. But someone slips a strange note under Evie’s door, and soon she’s dodging Heinz Fischer, the Hitler Youth member assigned to host her, and meeting strangers who want to make use of her gymnastic skills—to rob a bank. As the games progress, Evie begins to see the moral issues behind their sparkling facade—the antisemitism and racism inherent in Nazi ideology and the way Hitler is using the competition to support and promote these beliefs. And she also agrees to rob the bank. Gratz goes big on the Mission Impossible–style heist, which takes center stage over the actual competitions, other than Jesse Owens’ famous long jump. A lengthy and detailed author’s note provides valuable historical context, including places where Gratz adapted the facts for storytelling purposes (although there’s no mention of the fact that before 1952, Olympic equestrian sports were limited to male military officers). With an emphasis on the plot, many of the characters feel defined primarily by how they’re suffering under the Nazis, such as the fictional diver Ursula Diop, who was involuntarily sterilized for being biracial.
Fast-paced and plot-driven. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781338736106
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
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