The Red Blazer Girls: The Ring of Rocamadour

by Michael Beil

It all began with The Scream. And ended with . . . well, if we told you that, it wouldn’t be a mystery! But in between The Scream and The Very Surprising Ending, three friends find themselves on a scavenger hunt set up for a girl they never met, in search of a legendary ring reputed to grant wishes. Are these sleuths in school uniforms modern-day equivalents of Nancy, Harriet, or Scooby? Not really, they’re just three nice girls who decide to help out a weird lady, and end up hiding under tables, tackling word puzzles and geometry equations, and searching rather moldy storage rooms for “the stuff that dreams are made of” (that’s from an old detective movie). Oh, and there’s A Boy, who complicates things. As boys often do. Intrigued? The Red Blazer Girls offers a fun, twisty adventure for those who love mystery, math (c’mon, admit it!), and a modest measure of mayhem. Michael Beil, a New York City high school English teacher, makes his literary debut with this fun and brainy mystery.

My Thoughts: If you like puzzles, games, and scavenger hunts, you will like this series. Do you like math too? Then you might love this book. The Ring of Rocamadour is filled with puzzles from the first page to the last (literally)! Look for the second book in the series, The Vanishing Violin, in the library.

Killer Pizza

by Greg Taylor

Pizza you’ll die for! Toby McGill dreams of becoming a world-famous chef, but up until now, his only experience has been watching the Food Network. When Toby lands a summer job at Killer Pizza, where pies like The Monstrosity and The Frankensausage are on the menu, things seem perfect. His coworkers, Annabel and Strobe, are cool, and Toby loves being part of a team. But none of them are prepared for what’s really going on at Killer Pizza: It’s a front for a monster-hunting organization! Learning to cook pizzas is one thing, but killing hideously terrifying monsters? That’s a whole other story. Still, if Toby quits Killer Pizza, will monsters take over his town?

My thoughts: Guys and gals are both going to like this book. Greg Taylor, the author, has the perfecr mix of mystery, monsters, and suspense to keep the reader hooked until the end.