BOOK REVIEW: HALF-MOON INVESTIGATIONS

Half-moon Investigations mystery review

HALF-MOON INVESTIGATIONS

Eoin Colfer

Hyperion Books for Children

Available: Hardcopy, paperback, Kindle, audiobook

Twelve-year-old Fletcher Moon is a licensed Private Eye, graduating at the top of his on-line private detective academy class. He even has a silver plated badge to prove it! Which he likes to show to every one. Which also makes him a little nerdy. Still he has managed to solve several cases at Saint Jerome's elementary and Middle school and when kids need help they go to him. That's why one of the school's most pretty and popular girls, April Devereux hires him to find a stolen lock of a pop star's hair. She even provides him with a suspect. It's Red, one of the infamous Sharkey Boys and the son of a well-known local criminal. The case sounds easy and lucrative. But then things start to go wrong with the investigation and the clues just don't add up. Things escalate. The Devereux Wendy House [play house] is burned and he becomes the suspect on the run. Forced to team up with the most unlikely partner, together they piece together the clues to a rash of crimes.

   What makes this book really stand out is that while Half-Moon (Fletcher) is a wise cracking hard-boiled kid detective, his slang is totally "kid". He doesn't sound like a kid impersonating some 1950s detective. He sounds like a kid with a bit of attitude and a quirky way of looking at things. The mystery itself is spot on. Real, believable, and again totally "kid." I look forward to reading the next Half-Moon Detective installment.

TARGET AUDIENCE: Grades 4-7

MYSTERY / SUSPENSE:  Keeps you guessing until the end

KID APPEAL: Kids will love it!