Dani Callanzano is going to have a terrible summer. She lives in the most boring town imaginable, her cell phone rarely gets reception, her best friend moved away, her brother is at camp, and, oh yeah, her Dad just left her and her Mom to go live with his new girlfriend. The only interesting thing going on is the series of old detective movies at the local theater and the cute guy running the projector (he’s dating Dani’s old babysitter). When a mysterious girl starts sneaking around the projection booth, Dani decides she’ll become a detective herself.
Who knew that that a novel for 9 to 12 year-old girls (mostly) that heavily features old Film Noir could be one of the best books for Middle Readers that I’ve read in years? I’m not even a big fan of Film Noir or non-fantasy books for this age-group. The writing is better than a lot of adult novels I read, so (unfortunately) that makes it way better than many of the kid’s books out there. Suma manages to make this story completely hip and contemporary without falling into the trap of mentioning text messages and Facebook too many times. The lessons that Dani learns are real and interesting and fit perfectly with the story. I think a lot of readers might be frustrated with Dani and the mistakes she makes, but that’s part of the point.
This is a perfect book for girls who want to be reading in teens, but they (or their parents) aren’t quite ready for all that comes with that. It would also make a great book for a Mother-Daughter Book Club. ~Lillian