Drew Leclair is back on the case! Seventh-grader Drew knows she broke school rules solving the last mystery that came her way. She’s determined to stay out of trouble. But when a thief starts breaking into students’ lockers and leaving behind cryptic ransom notes, the lure of trying to solve the mystery—and helping her best friend Shrey, whose crush is one of the victims—is too much for someone named after Nancy Drew. Drew draws on her detective skills, learned from the book and podcast of her hero, criminal profiler Lita Miyamoto, to try and identify a suspect. She’s aided by friends Trissa and Alix.
Slowing her down, however, is a visit from her mom, who ran off to Hawaii with the school guidance counselor, leaving her and her father in the lurch. And Shrey is distracted by his crush, while all the other students are busy wondering who’s going with whom to the upcoming school dance. Drew, although she knows she likes both boys and girls, just isn’t interested; she wants to focus on the case.
The mystery itself is full of satisfying twists and turns, but as in the previous volume of the series, it’s the characters who make it shine. Drew is immensely likeable, confident in her sleuthing skills and comfortable with her round stomach and “creepy” reputation. She’s also anxious and has irritable-bowel syndrome and asthma. Readers who share one or more of these aspects of her will likely find resonance.
Drew’s annoyance with her mother is understandable—her mom left the family and often doesn’t seem to “get” Drew. She’s well-intentioned, though, and Drew doesn’t always give her the benefit of the doubt, but their relationship is … complicated. Author Katryn Bury wisely avoids simplistic answers.
Additionally, although Drew has professed minimal interest in the dance, dating, or crushes, we see her beginning to develop a crush. In the previous volume, she had reflected, “It’s too soon to know whether I’m asexual with any certainty.” Is she asexual, though? Demisexual? Neither? We don’t know, and that’s fine. I’m tagging the book “asexual” so that readers can evaluate her identity for themselves, not because it is definitive. Even though she is still figuring herself out, it is great to see even the possibility of such identities in middle grade books (as well as her more definitive bi identity).
The story also involves socioeconomic differences among the students, but does so with a thoughtful touch, never verging into pedantic.
Drew is White; Shrey is Southeast Asian, Trissa is Black, and Alix is Asian. One other female character is said to “like girls.” There are also two boys in the school who are dating.
Another sure hit for mystery fans. I hope we’ll see even more volumes to come in this fun series, with a protagonist worthy of her namesake.
