From the blurb: "Unoccupied and unsupervised while their mother is working furiously on her new book, the children of widowed mystery writer Marion Carstairs find diversion wherever they can. So when the kids hear two gunshots at the house next door, they jump at the chance to launch their own amateur investigation into the murder--after all, why shouldn't they? They know everything the cops do about crime scenes, having read all about them in their mother's novels. They also know what her literary sleuths would do in such a situation. Plus, if the children solve the mystery before the police, it will do wonders for the sales of their mother's novels. And maybe, they can hook her up with the lead detective on the case at the same time."
My thoughts: I don't always enjoy reading books about precocious children--I often find them annoying rather than funny--so I wasn't sure I was going to like the three Carstairs children. But Dinah, the most responsible and also oldest at 14, April, the dramatic and all-knowing middle child, and Archie, their impish and active 10-year-old brother, quickly grew on me. Despite their bickering and disagreements, I loved how they worked together to solve the murder of Mrs. Sanford and get a date for their mother with Detective Bill Smith. Their King Tut alphabet language and 1944 slang sprinkled throughout the book was also fun. And their meddling in the investigation, from lying to the police to hiding clues and interrogating suspects on their own, led to some very entertaining antics. This classic mystery was unexpectedly comedic. And I enjoyed every page of it.
Happy Reading!
P.S. Craig Rice is the pen name of Georgiana Ann Randolph Craig who, in 1946, became the first mystery writer to appear on the cover of Time magazine.
