  | Sleuths on the loose (Murdle Jr.) Author: Karber, G. T. | |
| Price: $21.18 | ||
Summary:
When their teacher mysteriously goes missing in the library and foul play is suspected, a junior detective named Jake, her sidekick Sterling, and school bully Brick team up to solve the mystery of what happened to her.
| Added Entry - Personal Name: | Grabenstein, Chris |
| Illustrator: | Smith, Andy |
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (05/15/25)
Booklist (09/01/25)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 09/01/2025 In this whodunit meets logic puzzle, middle-school student-detective Jake teams up with an unlikely group to solve the mystery of their missing teacher, Miss Saffron. Using the skills taught by her detective club mentor, she knows to narrow things down to four suspects, four locations, and four weapons. There are nods to Clue, including all characters having color names (e.g., Coach Raspberry, Mother Mauve, Sister Lapis), but the final piece of the puzzle isn’t introduced until the very end, compelling readers to continue on to solve the mystery. Despite being the first in a series, readers should be aware that the story line picks up from Karber’s logic-puzzle books. Perhaps because of the introduction of a second author (Grabenstein), the tone and writing style feel muddled—both too kiddish and too adult in word choice to accurately sound like today’s preteen. Nevertheless, puzzle fanatics will be engaged, and the book ends with a clue for the next mystery, promising more curious cases to come. - Copyright 2025 Booklist.
