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Title: The Case of the Vanishing Emerald
Subtitle: The Mysteries of Maisie Hitchins, Book 2
Author: Holly Webb
Narrator: Anna Bentinck
Format: Unabridged
Length: 2 hrs and 14 mins
Language: English
Release date: 06-14-16
Publisher: Dreamscape Media, LLC
Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes
Genres: Kids, Ages 8-10
Publisher's Summary:
Sarah Massey, talented lead actress in Circus Sweethearts, is a mess. She should be dancing on air - after all, her boyfriend just proposed. But she has lost his gift: a beautiful emerald necklace with a storied history. Rumor has it whoever loses the necklace will be cursed, and now everything around Miss Massey is falling apart. She turns to Maisie Hitchins and her dog, Eddie, for help. But when Maisie shows up at the London theater, things only get stranger. Maisie begins to wonder if it's really the lost emerald causing all of these problems - or if someone in the troupe is green with envy.
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.
