Surfside Girls, Graphic Novel No. 3 - The Clue in the Reef

Hard to believe it has been three years since the last Surfside Girls graphic novel.  Although, considering the length of this mystery is pretty much double the size of the last one, I can imagine it took writer/artist, Kim Dwinell, some time to get this one done.  I've also learned, since purchasing this third volume of the series, that the Surfside Girls was made into a television show on ApplePlus TV.  I don't have that streaming service, unfortunately, so I haven't been able to watch any episodes, but I did catch the trailer on YouTube, and I must say, it looks just as fun as the graphic novels!  And after the girls uncovering the secret of Danger Point in the first book, and solving the mystery at the Old Rancho in the second book, I could not wait to see what the third graphic novel held in store!

 

The Clue in the Reef finds Sam Taylor and her best friend, Jade Lee, trying to figure out how a pack of small hedgehogs ended up stranded on an outer reef.  With the tide quickly coming in, Sam and Jade surf out there and rescue the poor animals.  The only clue they uncover is an odd tag with a clover and diamond on it.  Of course, their investigations into this mystery is limited, as both Sam and Jade are helping out Sam's father in the Surfside Days Festival, working in Mr. Taylor's burger hut.  In the last mystery, it was a surfing competition, but in this mystery, it's a celebration of the town of Surfside's founding back in 1853.  Everyone is dressed up in fashions from the 1850s, including poor Sam and Jade - "How did women do ANYTHING dressed like this?" Sam rightfully asks (p. 3), as she is being fitted for her costume.  But the uncomfortable clothes soon become unimportant, when Sam and Jade realize there is something strange going on in Surfside - because not only were the hedgehogs abandoned, but it also seems there is a ring-tailed lemur loose in Surfside, stealing mangos from unsuspecting vendors at the festival!  Where are these exotic animals coming from?  That is mystery Sam and Jade intend to solve!

 

While this particular mystery does not center around any of the ghosts that the girls have befriended and helped in the past, that is not to say they are not present.  Robert, and his fellow pirates, are on the scene, willing to help out where they can (although that does not amount to much).  Dwinell does spend some time, however, focusing on Sam and Robert's human/ghost relationship, and it's rather sweet to see how these star-crossed lovers are trying to find a way to make it work.  There is also an interesting part of the story where Sam and Jade listen to an old-timer spin a beautiful tale of how her people migrated from the mountain in the ocean to the mainland, only to have some of them fall off the "rainbow bridge" and into the ocean, where Mother Earth transformed them into sea dolphins.  It turns out this was a tale Dwinell herself held from a Chumash woman when she and her family were camping at the Malibu Creek State Park, and she incorporated it into this story.  While having no real connection to the mystery itself, it does provide some beautiful background to the fictional town of Surfside and its inhabitants, fleshing out the world in which Sam and Jade live.

 

While the girls do have cell phones and computers, I applaud Dwinell on keeping their usage to a minimum.  She has Sam and Jade do their detective work the old fashioned way, searching for clues outside of the internet!  Yes, they do ultimately use Sam's cell phone as a tracking device to follow the crook who is smuggling the exotic animals into Surfside, they are more reliant on Jade's mystery notebook, where she writes down all the clues, all of their suspicions, all of their ideas and plans, and everything else connected with the mystery.  Keeping the technology to a minimum definitely makes for a better read!

 

Dwinell does through in a surprise character in the form of "Amichelle," a famous pop star who is trying to lay low in Surfside to avoid being mobbed constantly by avid fans.  She plays an important part of the mystery, and she provides readers a clear reminder that although Sam and Jade are successful amateur detectives, they are still teenagers at heart.  With this in mind, it makes the climax of the story somewhat shocking, as the girls are placed in an extremely dangerous situation when they confront the criminal, and their very lives are at stake!  Of course, their quick-thinking and athletic prowess help them escape certain death, and the villain of the story is brought to justice by the end.

 

Dwinell's art remains consistent with the previous two books, for which I am glad.  In the beginning, it felt a bit cartoony, but as the series has progressed, I'm learning to appreciate and enjoy it more and more.  It has now established this world firmly for me, and I could not picture Sam, Jade, and their world drawn any other way!  I hope Dwinell is hard at work on a fourth mystery, as I do not want the adventures of the Surfside Girls to ever end!

 

RATING:  9 tubes of fake gold from an Old Prospector out of 10 for another superbly told mystery with a world that gets more and more fleshed-out with each book!