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Title: The Case of the Vanishing Emerald
Subtitle: Maisie Hitchins
Author: Holly Webb
Narrator: Victoria Fox
Format: Unabridged
Length: 1 hr and 39 mins
Language: English
Release date: 09-15-17
Publisher: Oakhill Publishing
Genres: Kids, Ages 8-10
Publisher's Summary:
Maisie Hitchins longs to be a detective. She's sure there are lots of mysteries to solve on the streets of Victorian London, if only she wasn't too busy running errands for her grandmother.... When a star of the stage, Sarah Massey, comes to visit, Maisie senses a mystery!
Members Reviews:
An Exceptionally Appealing Heroine; Decent early reader mystery
Holly Webb is a tremendously popular author in the United Kingdom, but she is little known here in the U.S. Her series include the Emily Feather books, the Rose series and its spinoffs, the Naughty Little Puppy books, Animalmagic tales, and a host of others.
Fortunately, her Rose books have just started to be published in the United States, (see,Rose, and they are being well reviewed and should help to make her better known.
In the meantime, if you want to read the Maisie Hitchins books you have to order them from third party sellers who ship from the U.K. That's all right, though, because the prices are fair, as is shipping. There's just a bit of delay because of the international air delivery.
All of that said, do you want to try Maisie Hitchins. I would suggest the answer is "Yes". Maisie lives with her Gran and helps her Gran run a boarding house. This allows for a wide variety of boarders, guests and mysterious strangers to populate each book. That's good because Maisie is bright, inquisitive, resourceful and keen for adventure, mystery and detective work. With just the help of her dog and her wide circle of friends, Maisie is up for any funny business that crosses her path.
In this volume the actress friend of a long time boarder has had a valuable necklace stolen, and Maisie finds herself immersed in the excitement and glamour of the theater as she works to solve the theft.
The mysteries are fair if undemanding. They are at an early reader level, but there are twists and turns and dead ends. These books are quite satisfying as children's mysteries; actually well above the average.
The real charm, though, is Maisie as a character. Webb has a knack for establishing a realistic girl character with just a touch of special appeal. In the Rose books, Rose is just such a fundamentally decent person you cheer her on as an orphan trying to make a go of her life. In these Maisie books, Maisie is a bit of a dreamer and romantic, with a very practical streak, and a very nice way of relating to people and observing life around her. When you add that to her sense of fair play and decency, and mix in a bit nerve, you get what I call, for lack of a better word, "charm". This is not kitchen sink drama and it is not cartoonish; it is slightly exaggerated girl's-own mystery, and that's wonderful.
It seems that these books would suit a reader who is a bit past simple chapter books, but not quite ready for more demanding fare. Vocabulary, grammar and the like is appropriate and could be challenging in places. For American readers, there is some English slang, but nothing that isn't clear in context, and that adds a certain zip to the narrative anyway.
So, a nice choice, and a chance to be reading Holly Webb before she is discovered.
Five Stars
Lovely books, interesting story
"...A Proper Little Detective ..." ...
The marvelous Maisie Hitchins returns to solve another mystery in "The Case of the Vanishing Emerald".