THE INVISIBLE DETECTIVE.

By Justin Richards

Book Overview

London, 1937: The Invisible Detective can solve any mystery, great or small - but no one's ever seen his face. Truth is, the detective is the creation of four extraordinary kids who combat crime in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0439866340
• ISBN13: 9780439866347
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Scholastic
• Length: 204 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.

Customer Reviews

They were some ghostly little soldiers, in the heart of Britannia

Does the name Justin Richards mean anything to you? Yes? No? If not, it's not for the author's lack of trying. Richards has thrown multiple books of varying age and interest across the Atlantic Ocean in the hopes of gaining some kind of a foothold on the American middle reader market. And after all, he's already, apparently, conquered the world of "Dr. Who" paperback fiction. Until recently, though, I hadn't much of an idea of who this vibrant British authorial star was. Then I saw the cover of "The Invisible Detective: Ghost Soldiers". Let it never be said that even the most staid and steadfast children's librarians aren't wowed from time to time by pretty covers. Made to look similar to old paperback dime novels (with pulpy designs to boot), Penguin Putnam has republished this popular English series with exceeding care. And while I would not advise doing as I did and reading this, the third chapter in the series, before reading books 1 & 2, it will make for an engaging follow-up to the first titles in the series. There are two heroes in this book, and as luck would have it they have the same name. Today, in the present, there is a boy named Arthur who once stumbled across the casebook of someone called The Invisible Detective. Turns out, the casebook was once his grandfather's and through it Arthur is able to solve current mysteries by using the book as his guide. The second boy is named Art. Art is Arthur's grandfather, but his story takes place in the late 1930s. Together with three other kids, Art is The Invisible Detective: A sleuth so mysterious that no one ever sees him (probably because he's an adolescent foursome and all). In this book, the third case involving this somewhat modernized Basil Street Irregulars, the crew are battling skull-faced creatures wearing soldier's uniforms. There's an insidious plot afoot to use normal civilians in grotesque deforming experiments. And worst of all, it looks as if the kids' friend Charlie, a peer of the realm, is involved in the shadier side of this business. As I mentioned earlier, do not attempt to read this book before you read any others in the series. For one thing, you'll spend half the book trying to figure out the difference between present day Arthur and his late 1930s grandfather Art. Now to my mind, Richards is at his strongest when he's working in the realm of science fiction rather than fantasy. The horrific nature of the ghost soldiers really grips the reader by the throat. But the Arthur-is-psychically-linked-to-his-granddad moments, as well as a mystical stone and a time traveling clock... well they just distract from what I would consider the real action. I should mention, by the way, that when it comes to the openings of his books, Richards is unparalleled. Recently, I happened to pick up a copy of his YA novel, "The Death Collector", and it had the finest first sentence I've read in a long long time. In the case of "Ghost Soldiers", Richards eschews easy first sentences for