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! 

The Curious Cat Spy Club, Book 6 - The Trail of the Ghost Bunny

The Curious Cat Spy Club
The Trail of the Ghost Bunny
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Co.
Publication Date (September 2018)
ISBN 10 - 080751392X
ISBN 13 - 978-0807513927
263 Pages of Story

"I grin at my club mates, hop on my bike - and we ride off together."

I can think of no better way to end this series than to send Kelsey, Becca, and Leo off into the sunset, searching for more missing pets. Well, actually, I could think of a better way - don't end the series at all! Let it keep going, let Linda Joy Singleton tell more stories of these three curious young sleuths, and let readers continue to enjoy these fun, well-written mysteries that hearken back to the days of children's mystery series! But, alas, that is not meant to be, so as send-offs go, I'd have to say Singelton pretty much nailed it with this sixth, and final, Curious Cat Spy Club mystery.

The Trail of the Ghost Bunny finds Kelsey and her family settling into their new home, which readers were introduced to in the previous book. It's a bit of a fixer-upper, so everyone is chipping in to help clean, paint, and renovate the house. But there's a catch - in order to keep the house, the family will have to take care of the previous owner's bunny, Trixie (Belden, anyone?). Kesley is overjoyed - her father, not so much. But Kelsey and her friends are good with animals, and she soon has it settled safely in her room.

But then the bunny escapes its cage. And disappears in the attic. And uncovers a hidden cubby that holds an old-fashioned key. And then gets kidnapped! Needless to say, it's the start of a whole new mystery for Kelsey, Becca, and Leo - one that involves a rumored treasure, a mysterious girl, a disappearing bunny, a hidden room, the tinkling of bells throughout the house, and the frightening shadow of a ghost bunny! Singleton incorporates so much into the story, by the time you finish reading the book, you feel like you've experienced more than just a single mystery.

I truly enjoy the way Singleton intertwines the lives of so many characters - bringing back a number of characters from previous books (even me! you'll have to read it to understand what I mean!), as well as incorporating peripheral characters into the overall mystery. And while it doesn't come as much of a shock as to who the culprit is, it's not the whodunnit that really matters, as much as how Kelsey and her friends get there. And, on top of everything else, the CCSC must also find a way to raise money for the local animal shelter to purchase a mobile pet van. As if they didn't have enough on their plate already.

One of the joys I find in reading series books is that you get to know the characters, and in a weird sort of way, you feel like these characters are "friends," or even "family," because you are right there with them during each and every adventure. You share the good times, the bad times, the rocky roads, and the thrilling successes right along with them. So, that is why it becomes bittersweet when a series comes to an end, particularly when you know there are so many more stories yet to be told. But, alas, for Singleton and her Curious Cat Spy Club, the sleuthing adventures of Kelsey and her friends have come to an end, and so we must bid farewell - and as Carol Burnett so eloquently put it at the end of each episode...

"I'm so glad we had this time together...."

RATING:  10 sparkling ruby necklaces out of 10 for saving the very best CCSC story for last and making it well worth the read!

The Curious Cat Spy Club, Book 5 - Dog-Gone Danger

I have been enjoying this series since the first book a few years back.  Yes, it takes some adjustment getting used to the stories being written in present tense; but, the stories are well-written and engaging, and the characters are fun and believable, so you quickly overlook the awkward verb tense (well, at least what I feel to be awkward - and it's funny, because I find myself automatically switching the verbs to past-tense as I read, since that is what I'm used to reading). Plus, the author is a big children's mystery and Nancy Drew fan, so she not only knows how to write a good children's mystery, but she pays a wonderful homage to those old series books in each and every one of her mysteries.  And while this fifth book as been a while in coming, it is finally here.

Dog-Gone Danger presents Kelsey and her friends with a couple of brand new mysteries - who abandoned a young dog in an abandoned barn and who kidnapped Kelsey's mom?! And, just like every good children's mysteries of days-gone-by, the mysteries ultimately come together and have a connection.

Now, here's the quandary - if a young teenager tells you something awful has happened to her mother, but all signs point to her mother simply taking off for a few days because of the harsh realities she is facing, who do you believe?  Before you answer, take into consideration that this young teenager and her friends have already proven themselves not only resourceful, but also insightful, by solving four prior mysteries where no one even necessarily believed a mystery existed.  Would that give her concerns for her mother and belief that she's been kidnapped a little more weight?  What would you do?  Give her the benefit of the doubt, or sit back and see if the adults' belief that her mother simply ran away from the hardships of life rather than face them was true or not?

Well, author Linda Joy Singleton proves that her young protagonist is not going to let the unbelief of her father, grandmother, sheriff, and friend's mother deter her from finding out what really happened to her mother.  Kelsey Case knows in her heart and in her gut that foul play is involved, and that it has something to do with a dog trafficking ring that she was investigating.  The only problem is, no one will believe her.  Becca and Leo believe her, and so once again, the Curious Cat Spy Club is on the case!  Which means the mystery of where the cute little pug they found in the abandoned farm came from will have to wait...

Singleton provides an interesting and sometimes tense mystery, with a lot of ups and downs and some surprising revelations about Kelsey's family and her parents' history.  Plus, let's face it, with chapter titles like "Risky Business" (Tom Cruise anyone?), "Blackberry Lane" (Judy Bolton's cat), "Larkspur Lane" (the 10th Nancy Drew book), and "Peggy Lane" (the 8-book series about an aspiring actress from Grosset & Dunlap back in the day), how could this not be a winner?  Plus, with comments from the sheriff like "Don't get any ideas about playing Nancy Drew" (p. 74) and finding out that a purebred dog's name is "Duchess Delphina of Snowship Songs" (p. 169 - look up the Susan Sand series for the Snowship Songs reference), it just adds to the children's book series geek's enjoyment of the book!

And, for what it's worth, page 119 of this mystery holds a very special honor for me, and while I'm not going to say what it is, let's just say it almost makes me wish I did have a dog named Mera (grin).

The conclusion of this mystery leads the CCSC to an old bed and breakfast described in true mystery style - Victorian with gables, turrets, and fancy trim around the windows, with an air of abandonment - grime-covered windows and weeds strangling the lawn. Which is another thing Singleton is good at - providing great descriptions to give the reader a clear picture without overloading you with too many adjectives or redundant details.

All in all, Singleton has another hit with this book - now to sit back and patiently (yeah, right) wait for the next book, where Kelsey and her friends will be on The Trail of the Ghost Bunny!

RATING:  10 Poly-Truth 2.0 pens out of 10 for another great mystery about a teenage detective and her two best friends who will follow her into any adventure!

The Curious Cat Spy Club, Book 4 - The Secret of the Shadow Bandit

Linda Joy Singleton knows how to tell a good mystery, there can be no doubt about that.  She also knows how to stay consistent with her characters and to have them grow naturally within the stories.  With her fourth Curious Cat Spy Club Nove, Singleton also shows once again that she knows how to maintain relevancy to a current generation of young readers, while at the same time, giving nod to all of us "older" collectors and readers of yester-year.

The Secret of the Shadow Bandit was a wonderful read for so many reasons.  First, the story provides a superb setting: a faux castle with turrets and grand rooms, with a "dungeon" in the basement.  The fact that Kelsey and her family live in the cottage on the grounds of the castle, and her father works as the chef for the man who owns the castle pretty much guarantees a whole host of possible stories in the future!  Second, there are several smaller mysteries that all connect in one way or another to the overall mystery of the missing chess piece - from the coded message in the tree house the kids discover, to the mysterious nature of the unfriendly butler, to the sudden disappearance of the prior inhabitants of the tree house.  Plus, why does the owner of the castle, one Mr. Bragg, the king of resorts, refuse to talk about his family and the former inhabitants of the cottage?  Third, and probably the biggest attraction for a children's series lover like me, are the fun little in-jokes, if you will, and nods to the mysteries of days gone by:

p. 31 - I sigh too, because I'd hoped to find something mysterious.  Unfortunately real life isn't as thrilling as the plots in my mystery books, where an old clock reveals a hidden will, a brassbound chest hides love letters, or a haunted attic holds dazzling jewels.  (Can you spot the Nancy Drew books in that list?)

p. 53 - We're all so different but we've become best friends, I think, smiling to myself.  (who else do we know that were always described as being "so different," yet you'd never know they were cousins?)

p. 126 - "Make a right turn on Melody Lane," Gran Nola says as she hurries to catch up.  (Lilian Garis would be so thrilled to know her books are still remembered today)

And the cover itself - anyone who remembers the early digest books from Simon & Schuster from the Nancy Drew series might see a similarity between the cover to this book and the first cover art for Nancy Drew - The Double Horror of Fenley Place.

The characterization of Kelsey, Leo, and Becca continues to strengthen in this book, and it seems Singleton is getting more and more of a feel for the three of them.  Kelsey, over the course of four books, has become less insecure and more determined.  Becca has learned that that is much more to people than their style and status.  Leo still resembles a younger version of Sheldon (c'mon, don't tell me you don't watch Big Bang Theory?!), but he does something that is very, VERY surprising in this book that has been building over the past book or so (if you noticed the signs).  And while Frankie only gets a brief mention in the book, it is nice to see the regular cast of supporting characters growing and staying in the picture.

And, last but not least, the "Bandit" from the title actually turns out to be a cute little ferret that was left behind by the previous owners of the tree house - a female ferret with a penchant for stealing items to build a nest (leading our spy club members to wonder if perhaps Bandit isn't the one who has been pilfering items from the area).  I'm amazed at how much information there is in this book about animals (such as the fact that ferrets do not survive in the wild, as they are more domesticated animals, and the fact that wild cats have their ears clipped when they are fixed, so that animal control will know they won't be reproducing), and it's great that a book written to entertain can also provide some useful knowledge.

(Just one side note - something I thought was a bit funny is on page 67, it reads "When we start back up the stars, King Bragg pauses..." Clearly, it was meant to say "stairs" and not "stars," but I guess the editor missed that one!)

All in all, another successful mystery for the Curious Cat Spy Club - Singleton can definitely count this as another win for her writing career.  Now, we just have to wait until book five comes out...

RATING:  10 global positioning finders out of 10 for expanding the CCSC's world and continuing to provide mysteries that are fun and engaging!

The Curious Cat Spy Club, Book 3 - Kelsey the Spy

The CCSC is back with more mystery, more fun, and more drama than ever!  Linda Joy Singleton clearly takes great joy with children's mystery, and it is evident in her writing.  The characters and situations are believable, the dialogue (both internal and external) is natural, and the mysteries are definitely on par with the best of them.

Kesley the Spy, the third book in this series, takes its title and premise from Harriet the Spy, a children's book of days gone by (which, quite frankly, I don't see on the shelves at Barnes and Noble or Books-a-Million any more).  As readers of this series know, Kelsey keeps a notebook of secrets, where she writes down and keeps hidden the secrets that she discovers about her various friends, family, and schoolmates.  Kelsey likes to compare herself with Harriet, as she spies on people and keeps a notebook of the secrets she learns about them.  She never shares those secrets, not even with her best friends and fellow Curious Cat Spy Club members.  But all that could very well come crashing down on her when she accidentally takes the notebook to school and someone steals it!

While the focus mystery in this book is on the stolen book of secrets, as with any good children's series mystery, there are several subplots - such as where is Kelsey's brother running off to every day with that mysterious white box?  And what exactly is inside that white box?  And to whom does that grandfather clock in the CCSC Clubhouse really belong?  And why would an actor leave a century old Aldabra tortoise with the kids?  Under normal circumstances, the Club would be more than up for the challenge. But this time around, there are obstacles getting in their way.  Leo is determined to get his friend Frankie into the Club and spends more time with the theater props boy than he does with the Club.  Becca is faced with choosing between her Sparklers and the Club, particularly when two of the Sparklers begin fighting, placing the success of their booth at the Humane Society fundraiser in jeopardy.  And every time Kelsey thinks she has figured out who stole her notebook of secrets, she finds herself facing more questions - - alone!

Weighing in at 281 pages of story, there is plenty of room not only for the mystery, but for the ongoing character growth of each of the three main CCSC-ers, plus more development for the supporting cast (such as Kelsey's mom, who starts her new career with animal control; Kelsey's dad, who is still dealing with his inability to find employment; Kelsey's brother, who is more determined than ever to get into college and away from the small apartment the family now lives in; and the Sparklers, who create some nice antithesis to Kelsey and her friends).  We learn more about the community and the school, and by the end of the story, Kelsey and her family are in for a nice surprise.

And Singleton does not forget about her older fans.  She manages to sneak into the story some very cool nods to the children's mysteries of days gone by - such as the missing dog named "Bobbsey" and the address for the dog's owner is "1933 Larkspur Lane."  These, of course, reference the old Bobbsey Twins series (with the two sets of twins - Bert and Nan, Freddie and Flossie) and the 10th book in the Nancy Drew series, Password to Larkspur Lane (which was first published in 1933).  Then, we are reminded that the middle school that Kelsey and her friends attend is "Helen Corning Middle School" (named after Nancy Drew's first friend and sleuthing partner).  It's these little references here and there that add to the enjoyment of these books.

I know that the fourth book is on its way, and a fifth book is in the works, so at least I'll have two more wonderful adventures of these kids - although I hope that we'll be seeing many more to come after that!

RATING:  10 chiptastic cookies out of 10 for raising the bar on what a children's mystery should be!

The Curious Cat Spy Club, Book 2 - The Mystery of the Zorse's Mask

I have always loved cats.  I have always loved children's mysteries.  Ergo, it makes sense that I would love The Curious Cat Spy Club mystery series.

And quite frankly, I do.  Now, the mysteries are not overly complicated, and they are written for the younger side of a young adult audience - but, they are fun and have believable characters that share not only real dialogue but face true-to-life situations (such as homework, chores, family problems, etc.).  The three young stars (Kelsey, Becca, and Leo) are far from perfect, they make mistakes, and they sometimes get their feelings hurt - but like all childhood friends, they stick by one another, and they grow and learn together as they solve these mysteries.

In The Mystery of the Zorse's Mask, Kelsey and Leo come to Becca's aid when a man comes to town claiming to be the owner of the zorse (which is a real animal - a cross-breeding between a male zebra and a female horse) that has spent the last six months at Becca's mom's wild life preserve healing from wounds inflicted upon it by an unknown source.  Becca is certain that this man is the cause of the zorse's wounds, but Kelsey and Leo aren't so sure.  When the zorse's sparkling fly mask turns up missing, the owner decides to stick around town until it is found, giving Becca a few more days with the zorse (and a few more days to prove that he hurt the animal!).

I had the pleasure of meeting the author, Linda Joy Singleton, two years ago out in California at a Sleuths convention (where, I might add, I also got to meet Parker Stevenson and Pamela Sue Martin from the '70s Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys show).  She was a truly wonderful person with a clear love for children's books.  Her fandom of children's mystery stories is evident in her writing, as well as the nods she gives to those books in her stories.  I still chuckle every time I read "Helen Corning Middle School" (fans of the Nancy Drew series will get that reference right away).

The books are told in a first person point-of-view, which seems to be the popular storytelling method these days.  She allows us to see the CCSC-world through Kelsey's eyes - a young teenage girl who is sometimes unsure of herself, looking to make friends as well as be a friend, who has a sharp mind and a heart of gold (but who has a tendency to act before she thinks, which gets her in some VERY hot water in this book).  I'm fine with that, as so many books are written from this perspective these days, you get rather used to it.  And although everything is from Kelsey's perspective, readers do get more insight into Leo's and Becca's personal lives, their family situations, and even their friendships with other students.  The one thing I thought very touching was Leo, who is usually a loner, making friends with a potential suspect, which causes a bit of friction between the three friends - but Kelsey eventually comes to realize what that new friend means for Leo, and it tears her heart when she and Becca learn a secret that this new friend is hiding.  How can she break the news to Leo without hurting their friendship?

What I'm still getting used to is the fact that the stories are told in present tense.  To be honest, I find when I'm reading that my mind automatically switches it to past tense, and there are moments where I suddenly realize it's present, not past, and I get jarred out of the story.  I've read some other books recently written in present tense, and I am left to wonder if this is not the next thing in fiction storytelling (just as first-person storytelling has become more prevalent than third-person any more).  I guess only time will tell...

As with the ending of the first book, there is a hint of things to come at the ending of this book, although we don't get the title of the next mystery as the old Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books used to do back in the day.  (Well, okay, that's not exactly true, there is a one-page ad in the back for "Kesley the Spy," which is the title for the third book in the series - but it's not written into the text like the ND/HB books of old).

All in all, a very enjoyable read, and I would recommend it to anyone who loves children's mystery series.

RATING:  9 jewel-studded fly masks out of 10 for bringing cats and mysteries together again (which is a combination I've missed since the end of Lilian Jackson Braun's "The Cat Who..." series)