Half Moon Investigations
By Eoin Colfer
Hyperion Books for Children
2006
Audio read by Sean Patrick Reilly
Dedication: To Liam and John: The Thursday-Night Think Tank
Target Age Group: Boys or Girls, Ages 10 - 14
Must Read
Good Read
Should Read
Best Experienced: This book is best experienced by listening to the CD.
Synopsis
Fletcher Moon – also known as Half Moon because of his size – is a born detective, licensed to practice in Washington, D.C. … when he’s 21. But for now, he’s 12 years old living with his family in Lock, Ireland. Fletcher is looking for his first real case, his first paying customer. He finds it in the form of 10 year old April Devereux, queen Barbie to a tribe of pink-clad Barbies. Something of hers is missing, and she wants to get it back. Fletcher’s cherished detective’s badge is also missing, and he thinks the same person who stole his badge – Red Sharkey – stole from April as well. This motivates him to take the case, where he will retrieve his badge and bring down the Sharkey crime family in the process. But like most mysteries, things are not exactly as they seem.
Book Review
Half Moon Investigations is told in first-person, from Fletcher’s perspective. The entire book has the tone of a cheesy, 1930’s, hard-boiled detective movie, and it’s done to perfection. While this book is generally not the type of book I read – there’s no magic in it at all – it had a sense of whimsy that I love when I read a book.
One of the things that I really liked about it was the seriousness that it treated the things that these kids care about -- the loss of a mini-disk, phonograph needles, and a lock of a star's hair that was purchased on e-bay. None of these disappearances is worth a policeman's time, but to Fletcher Moon, it's serious business, very serious.
This is the first, and so far the only book in the Half Moon Investigations series, but the end of the book hinted at more. Perhaps the “more” is in the form of a TV series, which the BBC currently has in production. Still, I would gladly welcome another adventure in book form.
Audio Review
Sean Patrick Reilly has captured the tone of this story to perfection. He really brought the story alive. Often, the adventure of a book is as accessible by reading as it is by listing to the CD, but in this case, I think the CD performance really gives the book its life.
Characters
Fletcher Moon – Also known as Half Moon because of his stature, or rather lack of stature. Our hero, currently 12 years old, has been a genuine detective since the age of 11 when he graduated first in his class from the Bernstein Academy in Washington, D.C. via an online course. He even has a real detective’s badge. Badge or not, Fletcher was born to be a detective, having solved his first case at age 3. He loves a mystery and has the wit and imagination to solve it.
Hazel Moon – Fletcher’s 15 year old sister, and a drama queen. She doesn’t hesitate to embarrass Fletcher – that’s an older sister’s job – but she can keep his secrets, too…for a price.
April Devereux – April is 10 years old and the epitome of a Barbie doll. She is also the head of Les Jeunes Etudiantes, a club with all the other Barbies from school. From a well-to-do family, her parents deny her nothing. She’s used to getting what she wants, and what she wants is for Fletcher to work for her to solve her mystery.
May Devereux – April’s first cousin and the object of Fletcher Moon’s budding affection. She's also in Les Jeunes Etudiantes, and she's planning to do a Riverdance for the upcoming talent show. Wish her lots of luck, because she will need it.
Herod Sharkey – 10 years old, nicknamed Roddy, one of the Sharkey family kids, and a one-kid crime wave himself. If anything’s missing, it was probably a Sharkey, and most likely Herod was involved.
Red Sharkey – 14 years old and still in the 8th grade. His flaming red hair – a Sharkey signature – is the source of his nickname. No one knows his real name, except perhaps his father. No matter what you call him, Red is cool...very cool. But he’s a Sharkey, and that means he’s probably trouble.
Murt Hourihan – Murt is a Sergeant on the Lock police force, and a friend of Fletcher’s. He thinks that Fletcher has potential, but doesn’t really take him seriously – a mistake, he’s not likely to make again.
Principal Quinn – Principal of Saint Jerome’s School, Mrs. Quinn is usually accompanied by her two dobermans, Larry and Adam. She keeps a ledger of every child who has ever been in Saint Jerome’s, in which she draws pictures to depict the type of person the student is, including the flames of Hell, which is where she fears Fletcher is heading.
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