The Gemini Mysteries No. 2 - The Cat's Paw

The latest group of young detectives are back in their second adventure!  After locating a stolen necklace being auctioned off at a charity event in the last book, twins Zach and Evie, along with their best friends, Vishal and Sophia, and ready to delve into another mystery, this time involving a missing (and very valuable) red panda!  Author Kat Shepherd treats readers to another fun mystery that not only tests the value of friendship, but also reminds readers to never judge someone based solely upon what you see!

The Cat's Paw (which turns out to have more than one meaning in this mystery!) begins innocently enough - the kids are attending a benefit at their local zoo where Sophia has been volunteering her time.  Before the night is over, Marvin the red panda goes missing, and the only clue is a large paw print in the dirt - a print that seems to be from a bobcat!  The authorities believe that a free-roaming bobcat in the area named B-17, which is currently being studied by an animal-rights organization, somehow got into the zoo and killed the panda.  Sophia, though, doesn't believe that.  She has also been involved with the organization tracking B-17, and she know that the cat would never do that.  But how can she prove it?  Well, that's what she has three mystery-solving friends for!

The Gemini Detective Agency is on the case, and it proves to be much harder than the could have imagined.  The obvious suspects turn out to be not quite so guilty after all, and before you know it, every clue is leading back to the benefit at the zoo and all of the people in attendance.  Shepherd takes her young protagonists down a twisting trail of clues and suspects, and half the fun of reading the book is not just trying to figure out what happened by reading the story, but also by picking up on the clues within each of the pictures at the end of each chapter!  Artist Damien Jones provides 29 black and white illustrations, and each one contains a clue that the reader can discover before moving on to the next chapter!  I enjoyed this in the first book, and now find it even more fun in the second.  I think it's an amazing way to help young readers not only with analytical thinking (solve the mystery!), but also help them improve their observational skills (finding sometimes very subtle clues within the scenes depicted!).

Now, as an adults, the culprit was not so difficult to discern; but for young readers, I have no doubt that Shepherd has provided an intriguing mystery that isn't the most obvious to solve.  Plenty of red herrings throughout the story, a number of possible suspects to weed through, and a mysterious thief known as "the Cat's Paw" that could potentially be involved.  Plus, since the four junior detectives are teenagers, there is typical drama that comes with that age, leaving one of the four wondering if they truly are a part of the group or just an object of ridicule!

This series has proved to be a lot of fun, and I'm hoping Shepherd has more books in the works.  I'm not seeing any evidence of a third book yet on Amazon, nor do I see anything on the author's own website, so it's possible this will only be a two-book series.  I hope not, as I see a lot of great potential with this series, and I, for one, would love to read more!

RATING:  9 blonde wigs out of 10 for continuing a tradition of mysteries with young sleuths in a well-written, fun series!