The Dark Stairs
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Mystery is in Herculeah Jones’s blood. How could it not be, with a father on the police force and a mother who’s a private eye? So when Herculeah notices a man hanging around the "Dead Oaks" mansion, she can’t resist doing some investigating of her own. Legend has it the old estate was the site of a murder, and now it looks like there’s something even more nefarious going on. Can Herculeah crack the case before the mystery man closes in on her?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Given a policeman for a father and a private investigator for a mother, could 13-year-old Herculeah Jones be anything but a sleuth? Drafting her neighbor and sometimes reluctant sidekick, Meat, she sets out to uncover the mystery of the decaying mansion known as Dead Oaks, eventually finding the body from a long-ago murder and correctly concluding that a particularly disconcerting client of her mother's is to blame. With her eye for telling detail and her penchant for strong, quirky characters, the Newbery Medalist spices her narrative with equal measures of suspense and humor (for example, Herculeah's father, with his chronically rumpled jacket and loose tie, looks ``not like a detective, but like a man who was lost''). Herculeah, as strong and dauntless as her name suggests, emerges as a distinctive and engaging heroine. The conclusion may not be altogether satisfying--Herculeah literally stumbles across the body, instead of reasoning out its location, and the pivotal figure of the murderer remains shadowy. These quibbles notwithstanding, Herculeah's adventures are sure to entertain, and hints of a sequel are heartening. Ages 8-12.
