The Mystery Bookstore

LINDA'S MYSTERY OF THE MONTH FOR KIDS

Saturday, September 18 at 11:00 a.m.
SPECIAL KIDS' EVENT!
BRUCE ERIC KAPLAN discusses and signs MONSTERS EAT WHINY CHILDREN
Simon and Schuster, $15.99, picture book
Okay, let's start with the title. My sales rep from the publisher modified it to Monsters Eat Whiny Booksellers. I retaliated in a mature manner in my emailed reply, Monsters Eat Whiny Sales Reps. Result: title is a winner. Now let's look at the cover: Acid Green (think "Exorcist" or Mr. Yuck?) with the most adorable ink sketch of two kids peeking out of a sauce pan. Do we really need more? But there IS more! In Kaplan's first picture book for kids (he's a cartoonist for the New Yorker and has written for Seinfeld and Six Feet Under), two whiny children are warned by their father that monsters eat whiny kids. And a monster comes to the house to prove his point! The only problem is finding the right recipe to please his monster wife. Whiny–Child Salad? Whiny-Child Burgers? Whiny–Child Vindaloo (ooh, yum!)? What will happen to these two tasty tots? Read the book to find out! And bring your crayons if you're joining us for the event! Bruce is bringing his!
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LINDA'S OTHER "NOT JUST FOR KIDS" FAVORITE

Lane Smith, IT'S A BOOK
Roaring Brook Press, $12.99 (unsigned first edition) Ages 5-8.
Not a mystery, but a book that will appeal to all ages. The perfect gift for anyone you know who's obsessed with the digital datastream, IT’S A BOOK is a "manifesto on behalf of print." Monkey is reading, but Jackass doesn't get it: "Can you blog with it? How do you scroll down? Can you make the characters fight?" It doesn't take long before Jackass discovers the wonderful world of books, and their friend Mouse explains it all for us at the end.
Please contact us directly to purchase this title. You may email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or telephone us on our toll–free number, (800) 821-9017.

Chris Grabenstein, THE SMOKY CORRIDOR
Random House, $16.99 (signed first edition) Ages 9–12.
Zack Jennings, who has the inconvenient ability to see ghosts, isn't thrilled about starting school in a new place. It's not just the homework or the bad food or the lack of friends or the fact that the school bully has noticed him; no, the real problem is the brain–eating zombie that lives under the school floor, and the ghost who's just been waiting to take over a child's body. It's too much for Zack to deal with on his own, but who's going to believe his warnings? The third in Grabenstein's Young Adult "Haunted Mystery" series is a spooky ride, though still a lighthearted and hilarious read. Signed copies will be available late August!
Please contact us directly to purchase this title. You may email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or telephone us on our toll–free number, (800) 821-9017.

THE BOOKS OF ELSEWHERE: THE SHADOWS (BOOK 1) by Jacqueline West
Dial, $16.99 (unsigned first edition) (Ages 8-12)
When eleven–year–old Olive moves into the crumbling old mansion on Linden Street, she's right to think there's something weird about the place, especially the walls covered in creepy antique paintings. But when she finds a pair of old–fashioned glasses in a dusty drawer, she discovers the most peculiar thing yet: she can travel inside these paintings to Elsewhere, a world that's strangely quiet, and eerily sinister. Olive soon finds that Elsewhere has secrets to hide. The most annoying secret is Morton, a small boy with a big temper. As he and Olive form an uneasy alliance, Olive finds herself caught in a plan darker and more dangerous than she could have imagined. It's up to her to save the house from the shadows, before the lights go out for good. For fans of Roald Dahl and Neil Gaiman comes a tale at turns haunting, moving, and darkly funny (and best if read with a flashlight under the bed sheets – shhh!). This debut novel starts off strong, with a wonderful first line: "Ms. McMartin was definitely dead." Right up my alley!
Please contact us directly to purchase this title. You may email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or telephone us on our toll–free number, (800) 821-9017.

LINDA'S OTHER MYSTERY OF THE MONTH FOR KIDS!

BELLY UP by Stuart Gibbs
Simon & Schuster, $15.99 (signed first edition) (Ages 8–12)
12–year–old Teddy Fitzroy has a murder on his hands and trouble on his tail! Henry the Hippo, the beloved mascot of Funjungle, America's newest theme park, has gone belly–up. The park officials claim – of course – that the hippo died of natural causes, but Teddy knows better. After all, Teddy spent his first decade in the African Congo, and knows a thing or two about wild animals. I'm a sucker for good opening lines, and this one caught me right away: "I’d just been busted for giving the chimpanzees water balloons when I first heard something was wrong at Hippo River." It just gets better from there, with crime, clues and one very smart kid (and not so smart adults). This first-time author is local, so it was a real treat when he stopped in to sign our copies.
Please contact us directly to purchase this title. You may email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or telephone us on our toll–free number, (800) 821-9017.

This month's pick comes from guest reviewer Adrian Garza, age 14. This series, which started last year with JACK: SECRET HISTORIES, is actually a prequel for young adults to Wilson's popular "Handyman Jack" series for adults. This introduces a new generation to the young Jack!

F. Paul Wilson, JACK: SECRET CIRCLES
Tor Teen, $15.99 (unsigned first edition)
Even the cover on this book is ominous. Jack and Weezy stumble upon an inward-slanting circle of tall black stones in the forest, just wide enough between them for a person to squeeze through. Was it a cage for something? A man stumbles out of the forest after having been pursued for days by – something. It was huge, it stank, and had two bright lights high up in the air above it, and when it knew it had lost the man it shrieked like nothing he had heard before. Not long after that, a young boy mysteriously disappears. Could it have something to do with the thing in the woods? The book gradually builds up to a really good conclusion, and, as a nice surprise, not the cliffhanger that I was expecting. I liked it a lot, and I think anyone old enough not to be scared by it will enjoy it too.
Please contact us directly to purchase this title. You may email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or telephone us on our toll–free number, (800) 821-9017.