MURDER AT THE HOTEL HOPELESS

A teenager hooks up with a young detective—or at least a kid who plays one on TV—to solve a murder.

Seventeen-year-old Charlie Hope willingly does what he can to help his single mom keep their small Vancouver hotel afloat, but his latest task, tending to thoroughly spoiled 14-year-old star Penny Price and her pampered Chihuahua, Baby, has him at about the end of his rope. At least he can unwind by playing chess with elderly resident Mr. Ignato…until, that is, Iggy winds up dead at the bottom of a staircase shortly after fretting to Charlie that his life might be in danger. The death is ruled accidental, but Charlie isn’t so sure—particularly after discovering that the old man has left him a massive stolen diamond. Going more for comedy than complexity, Lekich concocts a lightweight whodunit featuring two wrangling amateur sleuths, hidden pasts, a small pool of possible suspects, glittery MacGuffins both real and otherwise, a dognapping at gunpoint, and quick progress to a climactic scuffle in (where else?) an abandoned warehouse. The end brings just deserts to surviving members of the all-White-presenting cast, and for Charlie and Penny, a relationship that at least looks more like friends than adversaries.

Tailor-made for reluctant readers who prefer their noir on the lighter side.