Change of Heart

December 24, 2012
Teenage sleuth Robyn Hunter returns in her seventh mystery, written at a fourth-grade reading level and first published in Canada. When a up-and-coming hockey player is murdered, Robyn dives into finding out who’s responsible—one of her best friends, Billy, is the prime suspect, and her other best friend, Morgan, was the murdered player’s girlfriend. McClintock keeps tensions high, and Robyn is a winning heroine—fiercely loyal to her friends and the kind of girl who isn’t afraid to wade into the middle of a fistfight. Realism isn’t really the point, but like Nancy Drew and Veronica Mars before her, Robyn’s investigations are addictive. Ages 11–18.

March 1, 2013
Grades 6-9 Fans of McClintock's Robyn Hunter mysteries will rejoice at the appearance of two nail-biters within a single month: Change of Heart and In Too Deep. The former is an especially good example of how McClintock uses the ever-shifting terrain of high-school loyalties and conflicts as background for suspense. Robyn's two closest friends (Billy and Morgan) have broken up, and Morgan has taken up with star hockey player Sean. When Sean is found dead on an indoor hockey rink, Robyn tries to prove Billy's innocence. More solid mystery fare from the five-time winner of the Arthur Ellis Best Juvenile Crime Award.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)