Review: Howard Wallace, P.I.

Just so you know, this does contain spoilers.

I hadn't read a mystery novel in awhile before I read this book. I was getting a little tired of mystery novels and I wanted to read something more along the lines of an adventure book. When my dad brought me this book, I read the first couple of pages, not planning to read it for a little while. Before I knew it, I had read the first 50 pages of the book and I was hooked. This book is pretty new as it was published this year in June, so I know a lot of people haven't read it yet. Maybe one of my favorite things about the book is the narrative. It has the same narrative (more or less) as a classic, black and white detective film, called film noir. The main character is a kid in middle school, who is a detective. He has information on almost everyone in the town, talks like a private investigator thinking hard on a crime, and wears a bathrobe as a detective coat. I'm not sure if it was supposed to be a funny book, but I found it pretty hilarious, mostly because of the narrative and his junior partner, Ivy Mason. The narrative has a way of making you feel like you are inside the story, talking to the main character. I loved this book (despite a few flaws) and I hope many other people enjoyed it too.

The basic plot is this: Howard Wallace lives in a small town called Grantleyville. He is a private investigator and is pretty good at doing his job; by himself. That is, until a nosy girl in his grade, Ivy Mason, comes to town and wants to be his partner. He finally agrees, thinking she won't last long. She actually turns out to be a pretty good partner, and helps a lot when he is dealing with a tough case. A girl in his grade named Meredith, who is the treasurer in the student council at Grantleyville Middle School, tells Howard that she is being blackmailed. She says that she found a note in her locker saying that the person who wrote the note had stolen the school's checks that she was keeping in her locker and that if she wanted them back, she would have to quit the student council. The suspects are narrowed down and they are almost done with the case, when Howard is caught breaking and entering the school to investigate. His parents force him to quit the P.I. business and he is ready to give up until Ivy comes up with a plan to get him free from his grounding. They finally find their culprit, but they have trouble proving who it is.

This book is genius. I learned a lot of things from this book like, how to escape a locked closet and shimmy down the school wall. You know, the basic life lessons. Most mystery books I have read were part of a series, so it was interesting to read a book that didn't have a series after it. Howard and Ivy came up with a lot of interesting and clever ways to figure out the case. One of my favorite things about the book was the characters who had a lot of personality, like Ivy. I was disappointed that it was really easy to tell who the culprit was. There was only one innocent character, really, so it was pretty easy to tell who the culprit was. That was my only disappointment I had with this book, though. This was a really well-written book. I just wish it had more mystery to it. I will have to give this book four out of five stars. This is a really good book and while it was cool because it didn't have a series after it, I am already wanting the next book. I hope you read this book and enjoy it as much as I did. :)