The Tiara on the Terrace

Best friends Sophie, Grace, and Trista return to sleuthing during their town's Winter Sun Festival when Mr. Steptow is killed in a freak accident--or was it murder? Narrator Amanda Philipson sets the stage by giving each character clearly identifiable traits: to the float manager, a commanding Midwestern twang; to Trista, a brash, independent tone; to Sophie, the first-person narrator, a voice that easily galvanizes her fellow detectives into action. Though Melissa's snarkiness is overdone, the rest of the royal court exudes the appropriate level of arrogance. As the girls race to solve the murder, Philipson adjusts her pace to match the scenes of danger: Trista locked inside a cooler and the climactic runaway float scene, which will surely have listeners enthralled. M.F.T. � AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

May 1, 2016

Gr 4-6-The annual Luna Vista Winter Sun Festival is right around the corner, and Grace Yang and Sophie Young are thrilled to be working as pages. Helping to set up the floats and accessorizing the Festival Royal Court provide the girls with plenty of freedom, and when Mr. Steptoe, the festival president, is found murdered, they decide to get to the bottom of the crime. There are a host of interesting sidekicks and festival-queen wannabes adding high jinks and drama, as well as another murder to complicate the situation. Sophie and Grace face many ups and downs in this case, including issues of what it means to be a loyal friend. Their theories on the murderer are constantly tested, but these seventh graders never quit. While the plot walks the line of silly and saccharine, it will delight middle grade readers with its spirit of fun and friendship. Amanda Philipson's narration is upbeat and at times hilarious, though the wide range of voices, while amusing, may also prove distracting.

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2015
Following The Wig in the Window (2013), preteen sleuths Sophie Young and Grace Yang are back for a second outing, joined by Trista Bottoms, this time investigating the death]and potentially the murder]of a man managing their major local parade. Could the tyrannical supervisor of float construction be the perpetrator, perhaps driven by anger over the fact that her daughter has not been selected queen of the event? There are several other candidates for murderer as well, and each, the girls discover, has both some form of alibi and some kind of motivation to have done the deed. Occasionally assisted by Sophie's crush, Rod, the trio gets into and out of peril more than once. Complicating things, all three girls are selected to spend a weekend serving as assistants to the teenage girls of the parade's Royal Court. A new threat to their partnership emerges as Grace evinces interest in those popular girls, leaving narrator Sophie feeling as if this may be both their last case and the end of their deep bond. The team uncovers lots of clues (and numerous red herrings, too), which leads to a rather too lengthy tale. Nevertheless, the danger they encounter is remarkably believable, leading to a breathtaking climax and making up for some of the somewhat plodding twists and turns. An entertaining mystery featuring kids who readily outsmart all the adults; what could be better? (Mystery. 9-12)

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.