Not badly written or anything, but I wouldn't let my kids read this book. The children in it were BEYOND irresponsible; if they were mine, they would be grounded until they were 35, at least. ( )

Bit simplistic for my own tastes but will no doubt be a hit with young children who enjoy a bit of mystery and adventure. Reminds me a bit of The Three Investigators series or Teen Power Inc - inspires a nostalgic feeling of old school mysteries. And maybe a bit of Scooby Doo with the stereotypical bad guy. The four main characters fall into an easy friendship although I found the first meeting with Will to be kind of awkward. But it establishes the friendship and this allows the plot to move on at a fast clip.

And this is probably irrelevant for most readers but as an adult I have to say Joe not leaving a note really irritated me. It was so dumb. I know, it's fiction but ARGH! If you're going to look for danger - at least let someone know where you are. Of course the mother then sending her eight and ten year olds to look for him is also ridiculous but I get that it's aiming for a historical vibe. And to be fair, the kids aren't idiots. They have some practical and creative ideas to deal with their problems.

The mystery was pretty straightforward, bit of a comedy of errors though. There's lots of hiding running and falling. But it's all wrapped up nicely with no loose ends or lingering questions, so all round a satisfying read.

3 stars. ( )

I sometimes read literature intended for younger readers. Both to see what kids are reading and because the best of juvenile and young adult fiction is very good. The best of it speak to mature adults just as well as they do to kids. The Mystery of Smugglers Cove is not one of those books. Maybe some kids would enjoy it but I sure didn't. Four kids go exploring and find a cave, smugglers used to use it, now other criminals are using it. Kids get to close, have to be rescued, get away get caught again....... ( )

I felt like the characters were a bit odd, but other than that I really enjoyed this fun story about kids solving a mystery primarily by themselves.
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The Mystery of Smuggler's Cove by Paul Moxham
What I like about this book is that there is one brother and two sisters and they meet Will who knows a lot about the locale.
He shows them the caves and one day Joe goes by himself to investigate. Lucky the girls help rescue him later in the day..
When they go with Will another day they go far into the caves-reminds me a bit about game of thrones as they have caves and tunnels under the castles.
This one they learn is where men meet and bring boxes in and will go during night hours to bring the goods to the boats to sell to others.
Very scary that they are only kids. Almost like a Hardy Boys mystery so am enjoying it.
Reminds me also of our local rum runner smugglers off the beach via the drain pipes that are big enough to walk through.
Brave kids and like what they find out and where... ( )