By Kate Milford
4RBooks: 4/6, grades 6-8
Amazon rating: 4.6/5, grades 5-7
Good Reads: 4.03/5
Common Sense Media: 4.5/5, ages 10+
376 pages
Synopsis:
Milo is home for Christmas vacation and is looking for quiet times with his mom and dad. They live together in an old inn at the top of the hill. Surprisingly, considering the time of the year and the weather (cold, windy, and snowing) guests start arriving. It’s an odd assortment of characters with no apparent connection to each other, and no obvious reason to be staying at the inn.
Milo’s mom calls in extra help, Mrs. Caraway and her daughter. Another girl shows up too who Milo assumes is Mrs. Caraway’s other daughter, Meddy. When items are stolen from three of the guests, Milo and Meddy work together to solve the case.
To help with their detective work, they become characters in a game called “Odd Trails,” Negret and Sirin. The deeper they delve into the mystery, the more mysteries come to light. Soon they are searching for more stolen items, a hidden treasure, and the thief. There are clues and questions everywhere they turn, and the guests help and hinder throughout the story.
Parental Guidance: low
The inn has been known as a frequent play to stay for smugglers.
Someone is mentioned having been beaten to within an inch of his life.
A gun is shown and fired, no one hurt.
People are locked in rooms and held hostage.
Characters drink wine and whiskey.
Pipe and cigarette smoking.
One of the characters is a ghost.
Recommendation:
This is a book for advanced, sophisticated readers. The language is rich, and the chapters are long. It has an interesting beginning and a satisfying conclusion, but the middle dragged. Children may need to have parents preface the read with details about what smugglers and custom agents do, and why a local business would want to get rid of the smugglers and control trade in the town, details never totally explained in the story.
I really wanted to like this book more. It is the first book in what is now a five-book series. I hope books 2-5 are paced better and easier to read through, but they all seem to be 350-450 pages. It is for advanced middle school students, especially those who like a mystery, and don’t mind challenging reads. I believe average readers would never finish the story because of the slow pace, long chapters, and length of the book. A teacher might use this with an advanced reading group, hoping that some students would be interested to continue reading the rest of the series.
Adults might find this story more interesting than children.
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