A case of lighthearted fun during the witching hour.
Monster fighter extraordinaire Vincent Ventura battles his latest foe: the dreadful duende!
It’s around 3 a.m.—the witching hour—when Vincent wakes up to the sound of someone moving into the house at 666 Duende St. Very odd. Stranger yet, Vincent notices that one of his new neighbors, a boy roughly Vincent’s age, speaks to himself before committing a random act of vandalism. As the boy, who Vincent learns is named Sayer Cantú, flees on his bike, Vincent notices a little green creature on his shoulder. It looks like there’s a new monster mystery afoot! Recruiting his reluctant twin cousins, Bobby and Michelle, Vincent slowly befriends Sayer, whose reputation as a “bad boy” at school and home seems to be caused by the creature’s influence. At the library, Vincent and his cousins learn the name of the monster that’s causing Sayer’s misery: the duende. But what does the duende want? To turn Sayer into a duende! Book 3 in Garza’s Monster Fighter Mystery series adds a little psychological horror to Vincent’s newest adventure, and this installment emerges as the tightest entry in the series yet as a result. Vincent shares the spotlight with his cousins a tad more, leading to a cohesive story centered on friendship and, more importantly, kicking monster butt. Odd turns of phrase still pepper the author’s text, but his enthusiasm for the characters and monster’s folklore origins (revealed with a shoutout to fellow author David Bowles) remains palpable as ever in this dual-language novel with a mostly Latinx cast.
A case of lighthearted fun during the witching hour. (Supernatural mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-55885-909-8
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Arte Público
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
Breathless action and engaging puzzles make this a page-turner.
In this follow-up to The Mystery of Locked Rooms (2024), young escape artists rashly accept a mysterious game designer’s offer to get a sneak peek at a challenging new set of escape rooms.
Worried by announcements of a new, high-tech fun house that might drive their employer, the Delta Game, out of business, middle schooler Sarah and her friends Hannah and West jump at the chance to give Mystery Mansion a try before it opens to the public. More’s at stake than they suspect, but Currie dispenses with the backstory in a perfunctory way at the end. Her real focus—and the chief appeal here—lies in the set of fiendishly clever escape rooms that she’s devised for the trio and the team dynamics that carry them through: Hannah is the reckless thrill seeker, West is the observant brainiac, and anxiety-prone Sarah has a knack for making correct choices. The story cranks up the suspense, and the Deltas call on all the courage and smarts they can muster, sweeping readers along as they work urgently against the clock to complete the course. Hannah is cued white, West is described as dark-haired, and narrator Sarah isn’t physically described.
Breathless action and engaging puzzles make this a page-turner. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9781464234941
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Sourcebooks Young Readers
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
Delightful fun for budding mystery fans.
Only children, rejoice! A cozy mystery just for you! (People with siblings will probably enjoy it too.)
Debut novelist Cornett introduces the One and Onlys, a trio of mystery-solving only kids: Gloria Longshanks “Shanks” Hill, Alexander “Peephole” Calloway, and narrator Paul (alas, no nickname) Marconi. The trio has a knack for finding and solving low-level mysteries, but they come up against a true head-scratcher when the yard of a resident of their small town is covered in rubber ducks overnight. Working ahead of Officer Portnoy, who’s a little on the slow side, can Paul, Shanks, and Peephole solve the mystery? Cornett has a lot of fun with this adventure, dropping additional side mysteries, a subplot about small businesses, big corporations, and economics, and a town’s love of bratwurst into the mix. Most importantly, he plays fair with the clues throughout, allowing astute readers to potentially solve the case ahead of the trio. The tone and mystery are perfect for younger readers who want to test their detective skills but are put off by anything scary or gory. The pacing would serve well for chapter-by-chapter read-alouds. If there are any quibbles, it’s the lack of diversity of the cast, as it defaults white. Diversity exists in small towns, and this one is crying out for more. Hopefully a sequel will introduce additional faces.
Delightful fun for budding mystery fans. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-3003-6
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
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