Once Upon a Midnight Eerie

February 1, 2014
The psychically linked twins lay a pair of New Orleans ghosts to rest while surviving a new threat to their lives in this second episode. Preteen pranksters Edgar and Allan are visiting the Big Easy to co-star in a movie about their eponymous multi-great-uncle. There, they encounter the specters of the Du Valiers, a loving couple murdered in 1814 by Jean Lafitte's brother Pierre and unable to pass on until their killer is exposed. Fortunately, the twins have help in new friends Em and Milly Dickinson--multi-great-nieces of another illustrious writer--and also coded clues leading both to the pirate's revealing diary and a fabulous hoard of hidden treasure. Unfortunately, the Poes' strangely intelligent cat, Roderick Usher, is (again!) kidnapped...this time by the ill-intentioned mother and daughter of the opener's mad scientist, Professor Marvel. No fears, though: Break-ins to a certain mausoleum and the local pirate museum lead to a spate of rescues, arrests and revelations that, ultimately, put everything right. Scribbly pen-and-ink vignettes along with occasional interludes featuring the original Poe and Dickinson laboring in office cubicles in the Great Beyond while fretting over their living descendants add further diversions. A lightweight gumbo of jokes, codes, treasure, history, mystery and assorted literary references. (Fantasy. 10-12)

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March 1, 2014

Gr 4-6-Edgar and Allan Poe, identical twins in body and mind, are back with a continuing adventure to outwit their impending murder by an even more sinister enemy than the evil-minded Professor Perry from the first book (Viking, 2013). This time the boys are in New Orleans as part of a film about their famous ancestor. A film crew member (the neglected daughter of Professor Perry) and her grandmother devise a plan to murder both boys as payback. The story is told through emails, snail mail, and some ghostly messages from beyond. The clever twins, together with some new characters (the Dickinson twin girls, Em and Milly), must foil the villainous plans and help uncover a long lost pirate treasure. McAlpine's double entendres and literary references create intrigue as well as mild amusement as the clues unfold. Pen-and-ink drawings add to the quirky fun. Fans of Kate and M. Sarah Klise's mysteries, such as Regarding the Fountain: A Tale, in Letters, of Liars and Leaks (Avon, 1998), will enjoy the nefarious and often comedic action.-Rita Soltan, Youth Services Consultant, West Bloomfield, MI

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