Open for Business

Moya Simons (author)

Walker Books, Australia: 2008; 127pp

ISBN: 9781921150302

Genres: adventure, mystery/crime, realistic fiction

Issues: crime, friendship, values

In the best traditions of Harriet the Spy and Emil and the Detectives, the ‘Walk Right In Detective Agency' series is a light-hearted introduction to the mystery/crime genre for young readers.

Narrated by David - an obsessive note-taker - Open for Business introduces a pair of teenagers who are determined to get an early start on their detective careers. Milk Bay, a small coastal town, hardly seems a high crime wave area but in the meantime there are the simple cases, such as finding out why Bradley's girlfriend is avoiding him. There's also the case of the mysteriously disappearing underpants, a missing cat and, more seriously, the location of Catherine's biological parents.

David and Bernice learn that being a successful detective requires an enormous amount of drudge work - asking tactful questions, observing, and trawling through endless boring data in search of the one relevant factual nugget.

Despite the rather unlikely timing of the reunion of Catherine with members of her biological family, this is a very readable and mostly believable story with a slightly humorous edge. Moya Simons' work will go some way to filling an enormous gap in the children's market