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  • Into the Dark: An Echo Falls Mystery
  • Karen Coats
Abrahams, Peter; Into the Dark: An Echo Falls Mystery;.Geringer/HarperCollins, 2008; [304p] Library ed. ISBN 978-0-06-073709-2 $16.89 Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-06-073708-5 $15.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 5-8

Echo Falls' youngest detective has her work cut out for her when a conservation officer turns up dead on her grandfather's farm, and Grampy is arrested for his murder. Although Ingrid has honed her talents uncovering other nefarious crimes in her small town (see Down the Rabbit Hole, BCCB 4/05, Behind the Curtain, 9/06), she knows the stakes are higher this time, as Grampy refuses to provide an alibi, and she herself will be called upon to testify to threats she witnessed her grandfather making against the officer. She takes to rereading her well-thumbed and prolifically highlighted volume of Sherlock Holmes stories in an attempt to channel the detecting powers of her hero. As in the other two books, Abrahams has selected a play for Ingrid's community theater that provides emotional context for Ingrid's dilemma: this time it's "Hansel and Gretel," and the fear of being alone in the woods and at the mercy of a witch both haunts Ingrid's dreams and finds a real analogue in an action-filled conclusion that is itself the stuff of nightmares. Readers familiar with Ingrid's previous adventures will be happy to see her friendship with Joey warming nicely, and they will empathize with her complex and demanding relationship with the curmudgeonly Grampy. Clues are sufficiently well laid that alert readers will be half a step ahead of Ingrid but no more, and the climax has that old-fashioned, Nancy Drew appeal of real danger at the hands of creepy villains. Ingrid might not be as smooth or quick on the uptake as Nancy, but she's certainly just as resourceful and a good deal more credible for modern readers.

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