The Bloodwater Mysteries: Skullduggery [Hardcover]

Pete Hautman (Author), Mary Logue (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up | Series: Bloodwater Mysteries

While on a class field trip, Roni Delicata and Brian Bain find a local archaeologist unconscious in a cave. Professor Andrew Dart is trying to find evidence of an Indian burial ground to stop the Bloodwater family from developing the site. But it is Dr. Dart who has been stopped first, in this exciting follow-up to "Snatched."

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6–9—Amateur sleuths Brian Bain and Roni Delicata are back in this second volume in the series. During a Regional Studies class field trip, the teens discover an injured and confused archaeologist, Andrew Dart, raving about how he was attacked by a ghost and how they must save the bluff from being developed. The last part proves to be the trickiest for Roni, since the developer is the father of Eric Bloodwater, the classmate on whom she has a giant crush. In the end, the duo succeeds in saving Bloodwater Bottoms and exposing unscrupulous developers. Readers will be drawn into this fast-paced novel with its combination of mystery, suspense, and humor. The eerie cover adds to the appeal. A good choice for light summer reading, particularly for reluctant readers.—Michele Capozzella, Chappaqua Public Library, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

As Roni and Brian sit in a classroom listening to their teacher drone on about local wildflowers, there seems little scope for their detective skills, honed in Snatched (2006), the first of the Bloodwater Mysteries. But during a field trip, they climb a bluff and discover a cave where a local archaeologist lies helpless on a pile of bones, the victim of a blow to the head. Before passing out, the dazed, confused, and evidently unhinged professor hands Brian a Stone Age tool and orders him to save the bluff. Written with wit and style, the story shows empathy for the main characters' foibles and respect for their unconventional and sometimes fractious working relationship. The plot twists and turns as they try to unravel the mystery despite the very real dangers around them. Readers need not have read the first book set in the southeastern Minnesota town of Bloodwater to enjoy this satisfying page-turner. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (May 10, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039924378X
• ISBN-13: 978-0399243783
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,356,154 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Okay, here's some miscellaneous personal info. I'll try to be as brief as possible. I was born in 1952 in Berkeley, California, or so I am told (I don't really remember). At age five I moved to St. Louis Park, Minnesota where I went to Cedar Manor Elementary School (also the alma mater of Al Franken and the Coen brothers, and no, they are not close personal friends of mine) and eventually graduated honor-free from St. Louis Park High School. This is so tedious. Why do you keep reading? For the next seven years I attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the University of Minnesota. Contrary to recent news reports, I did not graduate from either institution. After college I worked various jobs for which I was ill-suited, including sign painter, graphic artist, marketing executive, pineapple slicer, etc. Eventually, having exhausted other options, I decided to write. My first novel, Drawing Dead, was published in 1993. Today, I live with mystery writer and poet Mary Logue in Golden Valley, Minnesota and Stockholm, Wisconsin. We have two small dogs (are you still reading?) named Rene and Jacques. There you have it. Fifty-plus years compressed into a few short paragraphs. Feel free to copy and paste for your book report, but don't tell anybody I suggested it. Need to know more? Check out the FAQs page on my website at http://www.petehautman.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful offering for Young Adult Mystery, June 4, 2007

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bloodwater Mysteries: Skullduggery (Hardcover)

This is the second in the Bloodwater mystery series, following Snatched. Hautman won the National Book Award in 2004 for his teen novel, Godless.

Roni Delicata, reporter for her high school newspaper, is taking a summer course in Regional Studies along with her younger friend Brian Bain, a science geek. They really do not have much in common, except for a penchant for mysteries. The class is studying the plants of the region, and Professor Bloom is taking them on a field trip to the swampy Bloodwater Bottoms to look for ladyslippers and skunk cabbage.

While hiking around with Brian (of course she is paired with geeky Brian, and not the handsome new student, Eric Bloodwater), they end up straying away from the smelly, muddy swamp, and up towards the bluff that is slated for development. They hear a very faint cry for help, and discover Dr. Andrew Dart, an archeologist from the local college, barely conscious in a cave, holding an old skull. He is sure that the bluff is an important Indian site, and gives Brian an ancient spear point and tells him to keep it safe--and the bulldozers must be stopped!

Roni and Brian decide to help, but they have only a few days. They try and ask questions at a public meeting, but to no avail. Dr. Dart is hospitalized and not making much sense, so he is no help at all. They decide to go back to the cave. Before they can get back in, it explodes and the entrance is sealed. They embark on a nighttime mission to get into the cave and find evidence using a second entrance, down a rope in a deep hole in the ground. Will they succeed? Who hit Dr. Dart and left him the cave, and is that person still around?

This book has it all--a great setting (Minnesota, along the Mississippi River), a resourceful and stroppy young reporter with a smart and witty sidekick, a scary mansion with secret passages, and small town summer life with bikes and Dairy Queens. I can hardly wait for the next in the series!

Two Minnesota mystery authors teamed up to give us a 4-star read.

Armchair Interviews says: If you love good Young Adult mysteries, this series if for you.