Minerva Clark is called upon to determine the cause of a fire that severely damaged a family grocery store and killed a woman asleep in an apartment above the store. The police seem to think the fire was caused by a damaged gas main, but that would void the family’s insurance, the son of the owners explaines. Minerva’s efforts are complicated by the presence of her mother, in town planning a reception to celebrate her recent marriage, and by the fact that the grocery store is haunted by a ghost named Louise.

Karbo skillfully captures the silly but endearing thought process of her thirteen-year-old heroine. For example, although Kevin has been her boyfriend for only a couple of days, Minerva is pretty sure she will marry him when they are thirty. That’s after Kevin has gotten his PhD in marine biology and she has tired of a life as a globe-trotting detective for Scotland Yard.

The focus moves back and forth between Minerva’s efforts to solve the mystery and the disruption caused by her mother’s presence. Minerva refers to her mother as Mrs. Dagnitz, expressing her resentment in the form of passive hostility. Mother wants Minerva to dress up like a nice young lady, but Minerva is most comfortable in tomboy attire. Mother wants her reception to go smoothly, but Minerva views the reception planning as an annoying impediment to her efforts to determine the cause of the grocery store fire.

Karbo’s Minerva Clark series is a quick, easy read, in some ways similar to John Lawrence Reynolds’ Rapid Reads series featuring Police Chief Maxine Benson. Books in the Rapid Reads series are intended for ESL students, adults who struggle with literacy, and other readers who want a book they can finish in a single day. The Minerva Clark series is intended for adolescents, but the intended audience of the Rapid Read Series would be comfortable with the reading level and complexity of the Minerva Clark series. I find the books in both series to be a relaxing, refreshing break from the adult oriented mysteries I enjoy. ( )

Thirteen-year-old amateur sleuth Minerva Clark is contacted by a boy whose parents' Portland, Oregon grocery store burned down, but when she agrees to investigate the fire, she does not expect to become an arson suspect herself.

From the very first Minerva Clark book, I've been hooked. She's a bit bratty, and completely thirteen (minus the self esteem issues, of course). Normally thirteen year olds drive me insane, but this one is funny, sympathetic and oh so real. Her family dynamic is just as important to the books as her crime solving and there is NEVER a dull moment.

If you never listen to another word I say, listen to this:

If you like young adult fiction, read any of the Minerva Clark books. Probably should start at the beginning, though, with Minerva Clark Gets a Clue. ( )

"Thank you. Drive through, please."
"When Mr. Dagnitz was just plain old Weird Rolando, with his man braid and yoga pants, my brothers and I weren't required to bond. Now it was a whole new deal."
"I was pretty sure I would marry Kevin one day when we were thirty and he had gotten his PhD in marine biology and had saved the world's coral reefs and I had gotten tired of my life as a globe-trotting sleuth solving important mysteries they normally reserved for Scotland Yard and places like that. Only then would we be ready to buy our ranch on the island of Maui, where we would surf and raise Appaloosas. I wasn't quite sure what those were, but Kevin assured me they were most excellent."
"The advantage of the fireman's pole was that you dropped into the kitchen like a ninja."
"I liked how he called me babe, even though it sort of sounded like something he'd practiced at home in the mirror, winking and pointing at himself with finger guns."
"Never had I looked like such a geek, riding the streets of Portland in my turquoise Chuck Taylor high-tops and jean skirt. Lucky for me, Portland is the alternative-transportation capital of the nation - aside from all the bicycles and mopeds, there's a guy in our neighborhood who has a pair of miniature horses that pull him around in a cart. No one bats an eye." ( )