HARMLESS

In this trilogy closer set in the Gilded Age, Florida sisters Frankie and Lulu Davenport and their best friend, Algie Emsworth, once again find themselves embroiled in danger.

Frankie is laser-focused on becoming the most famous naturalist of her day, eager to best her adversary (and former mentor), the wicked Professor Champion. Seeing an ad for a paddleboat river trip and feeling guilty over an event in the previous book in which she sabotaged her father’s commercial fishing fleet, she decides the trip is the perfect way to bring the family together—and, not incidentally, to investigate rumors of a strange aquatic monster. Accompanied by Algie, his mother, and his older brother, Everett, the Davenports set off on the paddleboat tour. The trip becomes filled with tension after Everett encounters a former classmate from Chicago with whom he has a contentious relationship. Meanwhile, the kids hear an eerie call—is it the mysterious creature? The third-person narrative, following 13-year-old Frankie’s point of view, skillfully highlights the prickly and confusing early teen years even as Frankie confronts internal clashes between ambition and responsibility. After Lulu experiences a near tragedy, Frankie is forced to take a hard look at her decisions, but she doesn’t, thankfully, lose her gritty edge. Earlier entries established the siblings as white and Cuban American and Algie as white.

Expertly combines an intricate adventure plot with an authentic coming-of-age story.