From School Library Journal
Grade 5–8—A detective investigates a homicide in which the victim may have had a problem with a local middle schooler. Spreads covering one aspect of the investigation, such as "Sealing the Scene" and "Police Lineup," are comprised of vignettes and realistic computer-generated images that take up most of the space. Forensic and police procedures are covered thoroughly. "Fact File" text boxes providing supplemental clues are found within most chapters. Questions testing readers' detective skills appear intermittently along the bottom of the pages and refer to the "Crime File," which is appended in the form of a notebook, as is a short diary belonging to a person involved with the murder. Some answers appear on more than one sheet in the "Crime File" so it's important that readers not skip ahead. The premise of the story and its vocabulary make it suitable for middle schoolers, but they might be turned off by the picture-book format. While the plot is similar to an episode of
Law and Order, the concept is lost in translation.—
Lori A. Guenthner, Baltimore County Public Library, Randallstown, MD Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
About the Author
Malcolm Rose is the author of more than twenty-five novels for young adults. A former professor of chemistry, he is a well-known crime and thriller
writer. Rose has won many awards over the years, including the Angus Book Award for Tunnel Vision and the Lancashire Book of the Year Award for Plague. His first book in the Traces series, Framed!, was selected as a 2006
Best International Book by the International Reading Association.
