Summary: Minerva Keen’s Detective Club
Minerva lives in the luxurious Arcanum building, where she loves to play chess with her neighbor, Kermit. Her 11-year-old brother Heck is always cooking up a storm, sometimes with terrible results, and her parents are traveling in Australia, leaving Minerva and Heck with their ditsy cousin Bizzy. Suddenly, the building’s residents start passing out, sometimes with fatal consequences, and the police discover it’s some kind of poisoning. It’s up to Minerva, Heck, and a hesitant detective club recruit (Santos) to solve the mystery with Detective Wesley.
The Good
This book is FUN. The audiobook is riveting, and the narrator was superb, if a tad hyper-involved at times. I loved the audiobook sound effects (lots of farting in one scene that kids will love) and the way the mystery unfolds at a fast pace. I’ve seen a few reviewers compare this one to the series, Only Murders in the Building (but for kids), which I haven’t watched, but I think might be a good comparison.
The cast is fairly racially diverse, and Minerva is a funny, likable protagonist. There are plenty of funny quips, and I love that her younger brother is her sidekick (which we rarely see in middle-grade books). I have many questions about her parents and why they’d leave their kids behind in the care of such an adult, but I think (I hope?) we’ll more about them in subsequent books.
inerva Keen’s Detective Club
Minerva Keen’s Detective Club is an absorbing, well-spun middle grade mystery with a clever female protagonist at its helm. If your middle schoolers have been asking for murder mysteries, this one is one to try. There’s high action, suspicion, a scene in which the protagonist’s life is threatened, and some fun clues throughout. Bonus points for an excellent audio version that’s perfect for puzzling sessions or a good ol’ family road trip.
Star Rating
Content Notes
Here are some specifics to know about the content.
Content Warnings
- Death: A couple of building residents die from the mystery “killer”
- Alcohol/substance abuse: None
- Violence: Mild
Diversity
- Ethnic: One side character is Latin-American
- Sexual orientation: None
Recommended for ages: 9+
Good for kids who like:
- Books like Nancy Drew and other near-murder and murder mysteries
- McDunn’s Trouble at the Tangerine (or other apartment-set mysteries)
- High-stakes mysteries
Publisher Details
| Publisher details | Jimmy Patterson |
| Author: | James Patterson & Keir Graff |
| Illustrator: | N/A |
| Publication date: | May 1, 2023 |
| Audiobook? | Yes. Libro.fm |
| Page count: | 336 |
| Cover artists | Designer: |
Buy This Book
More Book Reviews
- Coop Knows the Scoop by Taryn Souders
- The Firefly Summer by Morgan Matson
- Flip Turns by Catherine Arguelles
I can’t wait to read this!