Half Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer is a fantastic middle-grade noir-esque detective tale. Colfer starts the book a little heavy in the noir language, but gradually the voice morphs to that of an actual ten year old. It totally makes sense to me because often I'll still find myself (at 23!) narrating my life in whatever style I'm currently hung up. Fletcher Moon is a ten-year old who is determined to be a private detective, obviously at some point this decision was affected by some type of detective noir movie or book.
Fletcher gets entangled in the biggest case of his life because he dares to stand up to one of the biggest bad kids in town: Roddy Sharkey. Roddy's brother Red is an even worse kid and Red steals Fletcher's badge. Fletcher wants his badge back, so he agrees to investigate Red for a girl in 5th grade, April.
I had started reading this book a couple years ago, but at the time, I was turned off from the language in the beginning chapters. This time, I was more prepared, and I kind of really enjoyed it. Plus the more trouble Fletcher gets into, the less he tries to play the hoity toity type of detective and the more gritty real-life he gets. It's an interesting reflection of life in that the more we actually get involved with living the less likely we are to narrate our own lives in our head (what's that say about my life?).
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and I'm sure I'll recommend it in the future to people looking for a semi-easy mystery/detective read. This was a fantastic start to Middle Grade March.
Quotes: "For too long boys and grown-up boys have ruled this earth and made a mess of politics and ozone and stuff. For too long us girls have been not listened to by males, even our dads and brothers and people who should know better."
" We will be prime ministers and managing directors and partners in law firms and owners of music stores that ban heavy metal and stuff with skulls."
"We were conspirators on an adventure. Life was dangerous; you took your smiles when you could."
"You could have hear a potato chip crunch -- but didn't because this drama was more absorbing than any snack."
Middle Grade March Count: 1
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