Review: The Fossil Hunter of Sydney Mines by Jo Ann Yhard

Publisher: Nimbus Publishing
Release year: 2010
Genre: MG mystery
One sentence summary: The Nancy Drew of Canada, eh.
Rating:5 out of 5
Review copy from author through publisher

Thirteen-year-old Grace already has too much going on — grieving over her father’s mysterious death, dealing with her distraught mother’s erratic parenting, and evading her creepy nosy neighbour, Mr. Stuckless, just for starters. She and her friends Fred, Mai, and Jeeter like to get away from it all by hunting for fossils near their secret hideaway, the abandoned mine they’ve nicknamed The Black Hole. But when Grace receives a strange note regarding her father’s death, it sets off a chain of events that sees Grace and her friends turning into detectives to solve the mystery behind his suspicious accident. As the clues and suspects start piling up and the investigation becomes more and more dangerous, Grace and her friends find themselves racing against time through treacherous sinkholes and abandoned mine shafts to figure out what really happened to her father.

From Nimbus Publishing website.

I forgot how much I loved a great middle grade mystery. When I was in grade six I got into Eric Wilson’s Tom and Liz Austin mysteries and started dreaming of being a writer when I grew up. Reading The Fossil Hunter of Sydney Mines took me back to those days and left me with a happy, glowy feeling.

This was a smart mystery. I mean, I’m 36 and there was stuff that I didn’t figure out. But once things were resolved, it was easy to look back and go “Ah, so THAT’S what happened!”. A lot takes place in The Fossil Hunters of Sydney Mines but it was all great. I mean, getting to read about the tar ponds? My Mom lost her grade 8 math book in those tar ponds. I love reading books about local places.

Grace was a great character. In fact ALL the characters were great. Her friends were fun to read about, each bringing something different to the story. And there was much talk of chocolate. How could you not love that?

Oh, you know what else The Fossil Hunter of Sydney Mines reminded me of? Scooby Doo!! It totally had a “those meddling kids” kinda vibe to it. Loved that.

I know this might not be an uber helpful review, but you know how I get when I love a book. I kinda go into blathering mode. If you enjoy MG fiction or have kids that read, go out and buy The Fossil Hunter of Sydney Mines. Just trust me.

Oh and now I get to do a bit of a neener-neener. I get to meet Jo Ann this Sunday at Word on the Street in Halifax. If you’re reading this Jo Ann, expect a total fan-girl moment.

Review: Spider Bones by Kathy Reichs

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada
Release year: 2010
Genre:Adult, mystery, thriller, forensics
One sentence summary: A forensic “Who’s on first?”
Rating: 4 out of 5
Review copy from publisher

John Lowery was declared dead in 1968—the victim of a Huey crash in Vietnam, his body buried long ago in North Carolina. Four decades later, Temperance Brennan is called to the scene of a drowning in Hemmingford, Quebec. The victim appears to have died while in the midst of a bizarre sexual practice. The corpse is later identified as John Lowery. But how could Lowery have died twice, and how did an American soldier end up in Canada?

Tempe sets off for the answer, exhuming Lowery’s grave in North Carolina and taking the remains to Hawaii for reanalysis—to the headquarters of JPAC, the U.S. military’s Joint POW/ MIA Accounting Command, which strives to recover Americans who have died in past conflicts. In Hawaii, Tempe is joined by her colleague and ex-lover Detective Andrew Ryan (how “ex” is he?) and by her daughter, who is recovering from her own tragic loss. Soon another set of remains is located, with Lowery’s dog tags tangled among them. Three bodies—all identified as Lowery.

And then Tempe is contacted by Hadley Perry, Honolulu’s flamboyant medical examiner, who needs help identifying the remains of an adolescent boy found offshore. Was he the victim of a shark attack? Or something much more sinister?

From Simon and Schuster website.

CHARACTERS: Dr. Temperance Brennan is one of my favorite literary characters. I love how she is super smart yet still has moments of vulnerability and uncertainty, especially when it comes to detective Andrew Ryan and her daughter Katy.  In Spider Bones we see Brennan attempt to once again gain some balance and peace with Ryan. I think it’s great that so many books into the series, we still get to see new aspects of Brennan’s personality. We also get to see more of Ryan and Katy, which gave a nice counter-balance to the case.

PLOT: Okay Kathy Reichs is one of my favorite writers, period. But….well, I found this one mucho confusing and very hard to follow at times. I think the plot was ingenious and as always she pulled things together in a way I didn’t see coming, but with all the different Spiders and various long case numbers, I often couldn’t keep the dead bodies straight. During certain scenes it really did feel like a game of forensic “who’s on first” with me trying to keep everything straight.

WRITING: As always, Reichs presents the scientific stuff in a way that is easy to explain but without making the reader feel like a twit. Although there were some things explained that felt kind of forced. A couple of times I had to wonder if Brennan would really have needed to explain things to Ryan or others she was working with.

WHO I WOULD RECOMMEND SPIDER BONES TO: Even with the confusion with all the dead guys and the somewhat forced scientific talk, I really enjoyed Spider Bones. I think besides fans of her other books, anyone interested in forensic mysteries will like it.

Browse inside Spider Bones.

Six Suspects by Vikas Swarup

Published by HarperCollins Canada, 2009
Reviewed by Colleen McKie

When Vicky Rai, corrupt son of the even more corrupt Home Minister of Uttar Pradesh is acquitted of the murder of bartender Ruby Gill, he decides to throw a huge party celebrating his victory. The celebration doesn’t go as Vicky planned when he is shot dead. The police have six suspects, each caught with a gun at the party. As they await the ballistics report, the police question each of the suspects, in an effort to find out who killed Vicky Rai.

This was the most unique murder mystery that I have read in a long time. In fact, while Vicky Rai’s murder is at the core of the central plot I’d almost be tempted to categorize Six Suspects as more of a character study. It is definitely a character driven story.

The majority of the novel is spent introducing the reader to the six suspects. We get to see each of the suspects’ background stories, individual motives and the evidence against them. Swarup used various writing styles to help make each of the six suspects’ voices clear. Some of the characters are written in first person while others are written in third person. Still other characters have their stories written as phone conversations (which was a bit confusing by times) and diary entries.

The conclusion of the murder mystery had a wonderful twist to it that I totally didn’t see coming. Yet it tidied up the novel neatly and realistically.  Whether you’re looking for an intelligent murder mystery or a unique study in character, Six Suspects is a super choice.

Browse inside Six Suspects.