Ghostly Echoes

July 1, 2016

Gr 7 Up-Paranormal detective duo Abigail Rook and R.F. Jackaby are back again, this time with a more serious focus-to unearth the killer of their ghostly landlord, Jenny, and find out what actually became of her missing fiance, Howard. As the unlikely pair begin to uncover more evidence about the murder, they realize that the circumstances around Jenny's death 10 years ago are still very much relevant to the present. Implicating the mayor and other well-known scientists, Rook and Jackaby's discoveries show that Jenny's death is a small cog in the wheel of a nefarious plan, one involving the Dire Council, which is intent on harnessing magical powers. Decidedly more serious than the previous installment, Beastly Bones, this novel features a fairly somber Jackaby and increasingly mature Rook. Many questions are still unanswered at the end (Is Jackaby still up for this line of work? Will he and Rook stop the malevolent Dire Council before its evil plan comes to fruition?), thus opening up the possibility of another book in the series. VERDICT Recommended for fans of Jonathan Stroud's The Screaming Staircase and Jonathan Auxier's The Night Gardener.-Amanda C. Buschmann, Atascocita Middle School, Humble, TX

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2016
Past actions and futuristic inventions haunt people in this sequel.Having helped paranormal detective R.F. Jackaby on several cases, Abigail Rook attempts to solve the murder of Jenny Cavanaugh, former resident and current ghost of 926 Augur Ln. Abigail and Jenny's experiments recall details of her decade-old death and her missing fiance, but they also risk hurting host and ghost. Reluctantly, Jackaby relies on the young women's new relationship to solve the disappearances and deaths of scientists (and small animals) plaguing New Fiddleham. While fighting vividly drawn villains, the trio also uncovers a vast conspiracy bankrolled by not-so-benevolent "benefactors." Still adjusting to her new home and the sidelong existence of the supernatural, the white Englishwoman provides stability while Jackaby and Jenny confront their own unquiet spirits as they traverse the 19th-century urban-fantasy, slightly steampunk New England city and other realms. Lacking Jackaby's Seer powers and the shape-shifting skills of her beau, Charlie Cane, Abigail proves self-sacrificing but sensible, wide-eyed but wry. The frenetic pace and whimsy of earlier installments give way to slower personal journeys and complex machinations, yet humorous moments, strong settings, and distinctive, diverse characters buoy the dark story. No easily untangled mystery, this Gordian knot suggests that the battle is won but the war has just begun.A somber turn for the supernatural sleuth and levelheaded assistant but still energetic and entertainingly offbeat. (Paranormal mystery. 12 & up)

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January 1, 2017
In summer 1892, paranormal detective R. F. Jackaby and employee Abigail Rook (Jackaby; Beastly Bones) search "the gritty underbelly" of fictional New Fiddleham for clues linking recent murders to a decade-old death. Inventors and engineers, as well as a vampire, a nixie, giants, and other supernatural creatures all figure in Ritter's latest glorious fusion of detective novel, ghost story, and fantasy.

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

September 1, 2016
Being employed by paranormal detective R. F. Jackaby has some unique occupational hazards, Abigail Rook has discovered. And that certainly holds true in this third outing (Jackaby, rev. 11/14; Beastly Bones, rev. 11/15), when the pair's investigations lead to the great beyond itself. It's the summer of 1892, and Jackaby and Abigail are busy searching the gritty underbelly of the fictional New England town of New Fiddleham for clues linking recent murders to the decade-old death of Jenny Cavanaugh, a ghost who's both a dear friend and their landlord. Jenny's murder and the latest deaths, as Abigail and Jackaby soon learn, are all part of a monstrous plot affecting this world and the afterlife. Inventors and engineers, as well as a vampire, a nixie, giants, and other supernatural creatures, all figure in Ritter's latest glorious fusion of detective novel, ghost story, and fantasy. And, refreshingly, Ritter opts to pair magic and science here, rather than making them oppositional. But what may captivate readers most are the intriguing revelations about Jackaby's personal history -- and Abigail's star turn at the novel's helm, when she ventures alone into the realm of the dead, Charon ferrying her into the underworld. tanya d. auger

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)