Mystery at Riddle Gully (Jen Banyard, Fremantle Press)

Pollo di Nozi, supersleuth and investigative reporter-in-training, is on a case. Aided willingly by her ever faithful, if a little sheepy, assistant Shorn Connery and somewhat unwillingly by Will Hopkins, the hapless new kid about town, Pollo sets out to uncover the mystery surrounding the sinister Viktor von Albericht. Not convinced that Albericht is merely the nocturnal, bat-obsessed Transylvanian he makes out to be, Pollo is determined to expose him for what he really is. But by the time Pollo discovers that perhaps Viktor von Albericht is not quite so vampiric after all, it may already be too late to thwart the entirely heinous Mayor Bullock and his evil plans. Pollo is clever, imaginative and obsessed with reporting. Every situation is a possible scoop, anything even slightly out of the ordinary a potential lead and almost any one of the warmly evoked townspeople a possible criminal. Mystery at Riddle Gully is infused with wonderfully non-didactic environmentalism, and handles the characters of both Pollo and Will with sensitivity, warmth and a dash of humour. Set in country Australia, this chapter book is an engaging adventure whose likeable protagonists will appeal to both boys and girls aged 10 and up.

Clare Hingston is a bookseller and librarian-in-training

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Category: Reviews