Running Girl

May 30, 2016
Garvie Smith, unmotivated high school genius, and Raminder Singh, a Sikh detective inspector, make for an oddly matched but highly entertaining detecting duo in Mason’s darkly comic whodunit. Despite his enviable brain and test scores, Garvie, 16, has the worst grades at Marsh Academy—he’d rather skip class and smoke with his friends, to the consternation of his mother. Then his former girlfriend Chloe Dow, the popular girl who everyone seemed to dislike, is pulled dead from a local pond, strangled. It’s a headline-grabbing case for Singh, who methodically explores all avenues, from Chloe’s strained family life to her not-so-secret partying. Garvie pursues his own investigation: he’s positive that, like everything else in his life, Chloe’s death is simply one big puzzle waiting to be solved with logic and reason, despite Singh repeatedly telling him to keep out of police business. Mason (Moon Pie) grounds the story in reality as Garvie grows to better understand that actions have real and sometimes permanent consequences, seamlessly melding British teen drama with a believable and suspenseful plot full of well-executed twists. Ages 14–up. Agent: Anthony Goff, David Higham Associates.

May 15, 2016
Sherlock Holmes, if Holmes were a biracial, at-risk, 16-year-old slacker--a genius stoner who consorts with burglars and homeless dropouts.Garvie is many things: a math whiz and certified genius with a photographic memory; a layabout who rarely goes to class; a smartarse; "a rational thinker, precise and unsentimental." His friends call him Sherlock and Puzzle Boy. He's also the ex-boyfriend of Chloe Dow, a violet-eyed, busty, charismatic, unpopular--and now dead--blonde white girl. Chloe's murder knocks Garvie out of his bored semistupor. Despite his mother's threats to move the family to her native Barbados, Garvie throws himself into the investigation with all his reckless brilliance. Detective Inspector Singh, the Sikh police officer investigating Chloe's murder, is torn between exasperation and reluctant gratitude for the boy's Holmes-ian deductions. Garvie ponders seemingly unrelated clues--a black Porsche, a shopping list, ugly lime-green-and-orange running shoes--and puts together a disturbing story of victimization. Girls and women in Garvie's world seem mostly to be ineffectual, oversexed, or victims of violent and sexually predatory men. Meanwhile, though Garvie himself is a welcome mixed-race detective, several of the other characters are drawn with stale, albeit affectionate stereotypes.Paced like a television police procedural, with flashes of epiphany, false leads, and race-against-time dangers, this satisfying whodunit overcomes its characterization shortcomings. (Mystery. 13-15)

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June 1, 2016

Gr 9 Up-This sly British murder mystery weaves in elements of both hard-boiled detective tales (think Raymond Chandler) and buddy-cop mismatch (think 48 Hours). Garvie Smith is a whip-smart and drolly cool high school slacker who spends his free time mulling over mathematical riddles and solving imaginary crimes. When the town's difficult It Girl, Chloe Dow, is found murdered, Garvie applies his skills to solving a real-life homicide. As the teen's long-suffering Bajan mother hits the limit of her patience, Garvie forges a strained partnership with the detective on the case, an observant Sikh named Raminder Singh. Detective Singh has pressures of his own-this might be his last case if he can't solve this complex crime. The story leads Garvie into squatter shacks, dark underpasses, sleek casinos, and a fair bit of danger. The main strength of this well-written and smoothly paced novel is its diverse and believable male characters. Garvie is exceptionally well drawn-he is fully realized as the town's genius charmer-and Singh is similarly fleshed out as a crisp perfectionist wearing at the seams. One misstep is the female characters, who, perhaps because of the genre's tropes, rarely emerge beyond their pat characterizations as vixens, icy beauties, and pathetic housewives. VERDICT This hip urban revamp of the mystery genre will win over strong readers, especially those looking for diverse genre fiction.-Sara Scribner, Athens Academy, GA

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