The Curious Cat Spy Club, Book 7 - Hunt for the Silver Dragon

Sometimes, life throws you some really wonderful surprises, and this is definitely one of them!  I have thoroughly enjoyed all six books in the Curious Cat Spy Club series written by Linda Joy Singleton, and when the series ended more than six years ago, I was devastated.  The stories were enjoyable, the characters were fun, and the mysteries all involved animals, which how could anyone not help but love!  Sadly, though, the series was not picked up for additional books, and so the adventures of Kelsey, Becca, and Leo came to an end.  I never though I would see them again ... until a couple of weeks ago, I saw a post from Singleton showing the cover of a brand new Curious Cat Spy Club mystery!  Say what?!?!  Yes, to my great joy, Singleton has provided fans of the series with one final mystery, a love letter to the fans that gives the CCSC one final mystery to solve - and boy, is it a doozy!

 

Hunt for the Silver Dragon is the story of a search for a kidnapped cheetah and her baby cub. But unlike the Club's previous cases, where their search for animals merely brought them up against kidnappers who were looking for profit or some such, this case pits them against en enemy who is deadly - one who is taking pot-shots with arrows at animals all throughout the community!  Kelsey and her friends become involved when they are chasing after a lost dog and come across an injured sheep, who has been shot by an arrow.  Kesley catches a glimpse of a shadowy figure in green and black, but her attention is called away to help save the animal before she can take any action.

 

I applaud Singleton for making this final CCSC mystery a really doozy!  There are a lot of blurred lines with regards to the suspects, and the threat level is so much higher in this book than any other.  From the get-go, it is made clear Kelsey's and Becca's moms are fully aware of the arrow attacks (because Kelsey happens to "hear" the Sheriff mention that the sheep was just "another"attack!), and the girls are warned in no uncertain terms that they are not to be involved - in fact, they are given an opportunity to help out with a mobile pet adoption project as a distraction.  The only problem is, that distraction turns out to bring the three crime-solvers further into the case.  The baby cheetah cub mysteriously turns up in the back of the adoption van, and Kelsey is certain that the young man who is volunteering at the animal sanctuary owned by Becca's mom is somehow involved.  But Becca refuses to hear about it, because she has become enthralled with the young man, and it ultimately causes a strain in the girls' relationship.  And when Leo announces he is going to spend a week with his father, Kelsey suddenly finds herself alone and under strict orders NOT to investigate the arrow attacks.

 

But, c'mon.  This is Kelsey Case we are talking about, and there is no way she is going to give up on helping lost or injured animals!  And, as luck would have it, her past successes makes her the perfect person for Sheriff Fischer to use to go undercover in the hopes of finding that missing cheetah.  The only problem is, her assignment is to find out whatever information she can about an archery range in a nearby city and she is not doing it alone.  Yup, that's right, she gets partnered with the young man who has caught Becca's eye.  The same young man Kelsey is sure is involved with the missing cheetah.  And the same one who has been lying to everyone and has been disappearing at the most inopportune times.  He is hiding something, and Kelsey is absolutely sure whatever secret he is keeping, it will give her the clue she need to find the missing animal.

 

A missing cheetah ... an archer on the loose targeting animals ... a juvenile delinquent with important secrets ... and a high-stakes, illegal hunt for endangered animals - all of this leads up to a rather intense conclusion that leaves Kelsey the target (literally!) in a deadly game.  If Singleton wanted to end this series with a bang, this book certainly did the job!  After six books, the reader already feels a connection with these characters, so when there is a rift between Kelsey and Becca in this book, and when it seems like the Club is falling apart, the reader feels the loss almost as much as Kelsey does.  Thankfully, all's well that ends well, and by the end of the book, not only do the kids reunite and make their friendships stronger than ever, but they catch the criminals and rescue the missing cheetah (as if there was any doubt).

 

Now, a CCSC book would not be complete without some nods to other series books out there - such as Kelsey's bunny, "Trixie," and her kitten, "Honey" (p. 32).  These are clear nods to Trixie Belden and her best friend, Honey Wheeler. There's also the "hidden staircase" that leads up to Kelsey's room in the family's new house, which would be a reference to Nancy Drew's second mystery, The Hidden Staircase.  It's always a treat when an author is a fan of series books from our youth, as invariably, it leads to plenty of Easter Eggs within their books for readers like me to find!

 

On the other side, there were a few snafus in this book, that I have to wonder if they got through because the book was self-published rather than distributed through a publishing house.  The first is the reference to the number of animals attacked by the archer.  After finding the injured sheep, Kelsey's mom says the sheep makes the third attack (p. 35).  Yet, after a fourth arrow is found in a playground, the sheriff informs Kelsey that "...you know about the arrow attacks.  Three so far if we include the rogue arrow found in a tree by a playground" (p. 123).  If the sheep was the third attack, then the arrow in the playground would have made the fourth, not the third, attack.  In addition, later in the story, when Kelsey, Becca, and Leo are helping with the mobile pet adoption van, it is said when the day ends that "[t]en animals now have forever homes" (p. 97).  Before they can leave, a man who had been looking at a dog earlier comes back at the last second to adopt the dog - bringing the total up to eleven animals adopted (p. 98).  However, after the van returns to the pet center, Becca's cousin Danielle, remarks, "Things went so well today - nine wonderful adoptions..." (p. 103).  Does this mean she forgot about two of them, or were two of the adoptions not really so wonderful?  Yes, I realize this is probably being just a bit nit-picky, and the inconsistencies did not really reduce my enjoyment of the story - but my OCD kicked in when I realized the numbers were not being consistent.

 

That aside, the Hunt for the Silver Dragon was a wonderful book-end for the Curious Cat Spy Club series, and it gave fans (like me!) one final chance to spend some time with Kelsey, Becca, Leo, their families, and their furry friends before closing the book on their adventures once and for all (or ... until perhaps Singleton gets inspired to write a second farewell novel in another few years ... hint! hint!).

 

RATING:  9 slices of double cheese and pepperoni pizza out of 10 for upping the ante to give the CCSC an exciting and dangerous final adventure for all of their fans to enjoy!