So Misguided

Plain words, uncommon sense

Tag: mystery (Page 4 of 4)

The Case of the Missing Auntie by Michael Hutchinson

September 8, 2020 /

Book 2 in The Mighty Muskrats Mystery Series is even better than the first.

In the bright lights of the big city, the Mighty Muskrats search for Grandpa’s lost sister who was grabbed in the Sixties Scoop.

The Mighty Muskrats are four cousins from the Windy Lake First Nation, who are incredibly close and often find themselves solving mysteries. In book 1 The Case of Windy Lake, they found a lost archaeologist. Now they are off to the city (Winnipeg) to have fun at the Exhibition Fair. But the Mighty Muskrats get waylaid by other plans. On one of their first days in the city, they meet Brett at the mall. He’s a friend who recently moved away from Windy Lake, but the city has changed him and the kids find out the hard way.

Subtle and overt racism is present throughout the story, but Chickadee and her cousins also meet some great people who help them learn about how the government scooped up and adopted out Native kids to strangers without their parents’ permission. Grandpa’s little sister has been lost to him for decades but he’s started dreaming of her and Chickadee is determined to do what she can to reunite her family.

What I like about Hutchinson’s stories is that they are great mysteries that my son loves to read, and they contain hard truths about Canada’s treatment of First Nations people that all readers show know and understand.

The Case of Windy Lake (A Mighty Muskrats Mystery) by Michael Hutchinson

August 7, 2020 /
The Case of Windy Lake was the co-winner in Second Story Press’ 2018 Indigenous Writing Contest

The first book in this mystery series for readers age 9-12 introduces readers to cousins Sam, Otter, Atim, and Chickadee. This inseparable quartet are nicknamed the Mighty Muskrats for how they stick together and tromp around the rez solving mysteries. In this story, they need all their wits about them to figure out what has happened to a missing archaeologist working for the nearby mine.

Most mystery / detective series are firmly placed in white, middle-class neighbourhoods but this community is full of characters from Ugly Fish, a hunting and fishing guide, to Denice, the kids’ activist cousin, to various Elders and company men working at the nearby mine.

The First Nation residents are no fan of the mine or the bone-digger, but they also want to rescue the lost man. The Mighty Muskrats are keen to find him too, and show their Uncle (the cop) just how helpful they can be.

The underlying story is that of the conflicting feelings about the mine. On the one hand there are good people working there who need the job to support their families. On the other, there are environmental concerns about water and air pollution, how the mine changes the land and the locals ability to fish and hunt.

Overall this is a fun mystery, and a story about the ties between families, neighbours, and communities.

Michael Hutchinson is a member of the Misipawistik Cree Nation, north of Winnipeg. He currently lives in Ottawa, Ontario where he works at the Assembly of First Nations, which advocates for First Nation families and communities across Canada.

The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

December 17, 2018 /

Description: The British cosy as postmodern fiction. Author Anthony Horowitz takes on a role in his own novel. Horowitz basically plays Watson to former police detective Daniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne has a Sherlock Holmes approach to solving murders and Horowitz is along for the ride. He’s been roped into writing true crime–much to his agent’s dismay–instead of the fiction he’s known for such as Foyle’s War, Midsomer Murders, The House of Silk, and the Alex Rider series for young adults. 

The novel opens with Diana Cowper walking into a funeral parlour and arranging her own service. Later that night she is dead. If this was a play, the director would yell “cut!” The scene is wrong, the detective steps in, this is Horowitz’s first draft and Hawthorne is unimpressed. There are edits and corrections, then Horowitz catches us up on how it has come to pass that he met Hawthorne and agreed to write Hawthorne Investigates. 

Just as Horowitz is a real-life person, so is another character Damian Cowper, the actor from Homeland. But this Damian is fictionalized whereas many details about Horowitz are true. Don’t worry, it’s not totally confusing, but I did find myself turning to google to search for who and what was real. 

Overall this is a fun whodunit and I was left guessing until the end. 

Favourite Moment: Well my favourite moment is when Horowitz finds himself in a bit of a pickle but if I tell you anything more then I’ll spoil the mystery. 

Perfect for fans of Magpie Murders, or any of Horowitz’s previous works. If you like Agatha Christie, British mystery dramas, or AJ Finn’s The Woman in the Window, then you’ll like this. It’s a clever mystery

Read a sample or buy the book at HarperCollins Canada.

Newer posts »

© 2024 So Misguided

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑