BooksforTopics Reading for Pleasure Recommendations
Today we feature High Rise Mystery, the latest release from diverse publishers Knights Of. Review Panel member Emma tells us more about what to expect from this classic murder-mystery style story with a modern urban setting.
Book Title: High Rise Mystery (available here)
Author: Sharna Jackson
Publisher: Knights Of
Publication Date: April 2019
Most Suitable for: Years 5-6
Reviewed By: Emma Hughes, School Librarian
Nik and Norva are sisters who live on a high-rise estate called ‘The Tri’, so-named because of the 3 towers of flats laid out in a triangle formation. With their dad being the estate care-taker, Nik and Norva know just about everyone who lives there, and they make it their business to know everything that’s going on.
In the height of the summer, a valued member of the community goes missing and there appears to be something very fishy going on. The sisters start looking and what they find confirms their worst fears – by the look of it, there’s been a murder.
Once they’ve dealt with the initial shock, Nik and Norva begin to put together a case file containing suspects, motives and alibis. With a limited police presence, they are able to make a nuisance of themselves by asking the right questions to the right people and, combined with some cunning eaves-dropping, they begin to draw some conclusions. But as all the evidence points to one person, the pressure is on get to the real truth of the mystery before it is too late.
High Rise Mystery is an important book with cultural references and language that will resonate well with those that see themselves reflected in its pages. The chapters of this book are punctuated with case notes to keep track of the investigation, whilst the interaction of the characters gives a real sense of what it is like to live in this urban community. You can almost hear the sounds, taste the foods and feel your lungs burn when they have to endure 22 flights of stairs when the lift is broken in 30 degree heat. The result is a page-turner of a book, that you can’t put down because ultimately you want to know ‘whodunnit’!
——————–
You can order High Rise Mystery online or from your local bookshop or library.
Many thanks to the publisher for sending us a review copy of this book and to Emma for reviewing the book.
