Samantha Wolf Mysteries, Book Three - The Beach House Mystery

Author Tara Ellis raises the stakes quite a bit with this third Samantha Wolf mystery. And I'll get this out of the way right from the get-go - I absolutely cannot stand this trend of writing books in the present tense.  It is very annoying, as it does not at all make it feel like it is happening now, nor does it draw me any further into the story than if it were written in past tense.  Maybe it's just me becoming old, but give me a story written in past tense - even if it is in first person, not third - but let's put an end to this present tense writing, please!

Now, that being said, The Beach House Mystery is much, MUCH more than just a mystery surrounding a house at the beach. It involves a possibly haunted lighthouse that was abandoned years ago.  It involves a stranger creature that has become somewhat of a myth in the small fishing village.  It involves a stranger family that is staying next to the beach house where Samantha and her family are staying.  And it involves an international corporation that is bent on gaining sole ownership of the the next big pharmaceutical creation to use for nefarious purposes.

Yes, you read that right.  While the story starts off as a simple enough mystery (worthy of Nancy Drew fans), it suddenly takes a rather more adult turn that centers around a kidnapped girl who is being used as leverage to force a scientist to create a drug that could be used not only as a miracle cure, but also a deadly weapon.  Definitely not the subject matter of a children's mystery, but quite frankly, it created a story that was engaging enough that I managed to stop focusing on the present tense and start focusing on the story.

Ellis also continues to present her characters in a more realistic way than many children's series, where the young sleuths seem to have every freedom and never face any repercussions for their acts.  Sam and her friend Ally go with Sam's parents to the beach house (along with Sam's brother Hunter and Ally's brother John) with a very specific stipulation - there is to be no funny business, no sticking their noses where they don't belong, and absolutely no solving mysteries.  They are warned that if either parents gets wind of the girls getting involved in another dangerous mystery, they are going right home.  Of course, Sam and Ally have been bit by the detecting bug, and when the young girl Erica cries out for her sister, Carrie, but Erica's parents insist there is no sister and warn Sam and Ally to just stay away, they know something's up.

The pacing in the story is good - a slow build-up in the first third of the book, a deeper delving into the mystery during the second third of the book, and a thrilling conclusion in the final third.  And there is one specific moment in the story when I realized just how caught up in the story and characters I was - when Sam and Ally return from a day of hunting clues to find Sam's mother upset - it seems Erica's mother lied about how Sam and Ally helped rescue her, making it seem as if the entire incident was Sam and Ally's fault!  I began to grow aggravated at the unfairness of the situation, wishing I could reach into the book and slap the heck out of Erica's mom for lying to get two teenagers in trouble - and then it hit me:  this is just a book!  So kudos to Ellis for getting me that involved with the mystery!

This series is evolving and getting better with each book, so I'm looking forward to reading the next books with the hope they continue to hold up as well (and with the hope that I'll eventually get used to the present tense annoyance).

RATING:  8 falling sand castles out of 10 for surprising me with much more to this mystery than what it originally appears to be.