Fowl Play
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Knives Out meets Finding Orion in this funny and heartwarming middle grade mystery by award-winning author Kristin O’Donnell Tubb about a girl investigating the recent death of her uncle only to find the healing power of family.
Chloe Alvarez has never been to the reading of a last will and testament before, but she hopes it is just like the movies. Lies! Intrigue! The reading of her Uncle Will’s will is standard, until he announces his gift for Chloe: his African grey parrot, Charlie.
Uncle Will was Chloe’s best friend. Without him, she’s left with only her memories of them together—which come to her in snapshots—and her new friend, Charlie. The parrot has a vast vocabulary, and soon Chloe hears her say something odd: It was murder, followed by homicide and cyanide. Chloe becomes convinced her uncle Will’s death was foul play. Why else wouldn’t he have told anyone in the family—especially Chloe—that he was sick?
With the help of her family, Chloe begins the investigation to uncover Uncle Will’s murderer. The suspects: His nosy neighbor. An ex-girlfriend. A rude landlord. A loan shark. But it all leads to more questions than answers. Did someone really kill Uncle Will? Or could this journey help reunite Chloe’s grieving family?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Contemporary Charleston, S.C., provides the backdrop for this cunning mystery by Tubb (Luna Howls at the Moon), in which a grieving tween's often laugh-aloud misadventures in detective work bring her estranged family closer together. Chloe Alvarez is left reeling by her beloved uncle Will's sudden death from a genetic disease. Inheriting his female African gray parrot, named Charlie, provides welcome distraction and joy, especially as Chloe has been harboring feelings of anger and betrayal toward Uncle Will, who shut her out of his life as his health was failing. But when Charlie begins spouting phrases such as "it was murder," "homicide detective," and "cyanide!" Chloe uses the skills she learned from her Grammy's true crime podcasts to initiate a murder investigation. A growing suspect list soon includes her wealthy uncle Frank, Will's knife-wielding barista ex-girlfriend, and whomever drives the mysterious yellow Prius that keeps following Chloe around town. Throughout, Chloe processes her grief by recording video journals about her memories of Uncle Will and expressing herself via painting. Typical genre tropes are subverted in delightful ways; rather than solve this harrowing mystery alone, Chloe leans on her family (and Charlie), who tirelessly support her sleuthing antics. Characters are intersectionally diverse. Ages 8–12.
