The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen (review)

Weary of solving mysteries (as they did in Whales on Stilts, BCCB 4/05), intrepid trio Lily, Jasper, and Katie (the last two the stars of their own literary adventure series) head off to the Moose Tongue Lodge and Resort for a much-deserved break. It happens that they are only several among many series characters (and just plain characters) vacationing at the vintage mountain retreat, including the muscular but moronic Manley Boys, the boy-crazy Cutesy Dell Twins, a screaming scientist, and the Hooper Quints, who suddenly turn up missing. While Lily and Jasper gamely agree to help solve the crime, Katie refuses—she came to relax, after all—and instead strikes up an unlikely friendship with the Cutesy Dell Twins, while determinedly ignoring the boasting thief she overheard stealing a priceless necklace from a guest's room. Meanwhile, the Manley Boys bolt for safety from the kidnapper's secret hideout, leaving Jasper to face the villain, who ties him to a chair and gags him with duct tape. Will Jasper's allergies cause him to choke on his own snot? Will Katie come out of the pool and come forward with her information? Is the scientist echolocating like a bat, or just screaming for no reason to irritate people? And what's up with the disappearing moose heads? These may or may not be related questions; fortunately, the combined skills of the crime-stopping trio will save the day. This sequel is an effective followup, but it also stands alone as metafictional romp successful on many levels—a rollicking adventure story, it's also both a tweak of and an homage to vintage series fiction. Authorial asides in footnotes and in the text itself remind readers of the telltale signs of suspicious behavior, telegraphing clues in an amusing, but always slightly skewed, fashion. The ending is both outrageous and completely plausible—liberal doses of the absurd do not, in other words, interfere with conventions of a well-wrought mystery. Cyrus' black-and-white scratchboard illustrations add to the gadgety, horror-filled fun. Mystery buffs and fans of vintage series fiction will not be disappointed, while those who think they've left old favorites behind may be prompted after this nostalgic romp to pick them up again.