100 Mysteries for Kids

I'm a children's book writer. The other day, my son's friend said to me, "Mrs. Heos, you should write a series. That's where the real money is."

By series, he meant a mystery series for kids. He said that he and my son should be the main characters, and, for one reason or other, it would be their job to solve murders.

Good idea, I thought. But for now, I'm up to my ears in nonfiction.

Turns out, that boy is very tenacious.

Everytime he sees me, he asks, "Have you started writing your series yet?"

"Not yet," I say. See, I like what I already write. Nonfiction is a lot of fun.

Then, the other day, he said, "Mrs. Heos, if you wrote that series, you guys could move into my neighborhood."

Ah, this is what we call motive. If I write a series, we can afford the friend's more expensive neighborhood, making it easier for him to play with my son. Well, that's kind of sweet.

So I decided to try it. Only before I can write a mystery series, I have to write a mystery, and before I can do that, I have to read 100 mysteries for kids (or mysteries4kids.blogspot.com). I don't know what it is about this formula, but it works. If you want to write something, first you have to read 100 of that thing. Unless you're a superstar genious writer, which I'm not. I'm a regular writer. (Meaning that I sometimes write brochures.)

This blog will be about the 100 mysteries for kids that I read. They will be classic or contemporary, Edgar Award winning or not, series or standalone. Mainly, they will be books written for a third-eighth grade audience. They will primarily be murder mysteries. Reason being: I love murder mysteries. In my favorite story, somebody solves a murder simply by overhearing something like "Eight miles is a long way to walk to the rain." My hero, as a kid, was Angela Lansbury. My dream husband was Columbo.

Plus, when I asked my son and his friend if the kids in my "series" should solve kid mysteries or murder mysteries, "murders" got the resounding vote.

I don't know if reading 100 mysteries for kids will make me a mystery writer. Writing a novel is daunting and having it twist and turn like mysteries do, yikes! But I love mysteries and writing, so I think it is worth a try.

Without further chit-chat, the first book I read was The View from the Cherry Tree, by Willo Davis Roberts (published in 1975.)

Rob Mallory escapes to a perch in a cherry tree whenever he is bored or tired of doing chores. (His mother is busy preparing for his sister Darcy's wedding, so there is lots to do.) Meanwhile, he tries to avoid his grumpy neighbor, Mrs. Calloway, who is angry that his cat trespasses on her lawn. One night, she goes so far as beating Rob with a broom when he chases the cat onto her porch.

The next day, Rob watches from the cherry tree as a man pushes Mrs. Calloway out the window. It is a short fall, but Mrs. Calloway is wearing binoculars around her neck(to spy on her neighbors, naturally.) She dies of strangulation. Essentially, she has been murdered.

Rob tries to tell his family, but everyone thinks he is putting them on. (Rob is a bit of a fibber.) More importantly, they have a wedding to attend to. Sorry, Robbie, no time for murders! We must marry off Darcy at all costs!

After witnessing the murder, Rob suspects the killer is after him. I don't know why he would think that. It's not like a potted plant nearly falls on his head or that he is shot at in his own backyard. Oh, wait. Both happen. But his family still thinks it's an accident. (Again, if somebody shot at my son, all holy hell would break lose. And by that, I do not mean I would call my husband to make sure he'd picked up the champaigne for the rehearsal dinner.)

As a grownup, the constant refusal of Robbie's parents to listen to him felt a little unrealistic. I mean, if my son told me he'd witnessed a murder, I might put down my dress alterations for five seconds and hear him out. However, from a kid's perspective, it makes sense. Grownups always seem preoccupied, especially when there is a big event at hand. Plus, with this wedding, everything that can go wrong does, mostly due to a cast of relatives that have never heard of RSVP-ing for a wedding (but seem nice other than that.)

Once I got past my grownup skepticism, Rob's parents' unwillingness to listen took on a nightmarish aura. They seem like good parents. The fact that they don't pick up on his impending doom hit me hard. It's that realization you get as a kid: It may seem like you're taken care of, but at any time, you can be all alone like anybody else. Not to get depressing, but we're talking murder, people.

Rob's situation comes to a head when he is chased by the murderer--an exciting scene! Obviously, in the end, his parents feel terrible that they'd ignored his pleas. (Though the wedding goes off without a hitch, so all's well that ends well, I guess.)

I loved this mystery. I liked that Rob was alone while being in the midst of family and friends gathered for the wedding. And I liked Rob, loved him actually...eventually.

Prior to the murder, I thought he was a bit of a Debbie Downer. It's a wedding, Rob, not a funeral! But after the murder, his pessimistic (realistic?) perspective on life made me feel for him so much. When one of the visiting cousins (a toddler) destroys something in Rob's room and he gets mad (which brings the wrath of his aunt and mother) I just wanted to cry for him. When nobody would listen to him, on the hand, he had a quiet resolve that I admired. He knew he might die that weekend. He would simply do his best to lead people to the murderer (even from the grave.)

The Verdict: Classic children's murder mystery, and a great way to start 100 Mysteries4kids!