Books

REVIEWS

“Surrisi’s debut nov­el is a delight­ful cozy mys­tery, snug­ly mix­ing intrigue and humor, with an unpre­dictable and sat­is­fy­ing res­o­lu­tion.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“Sur­risi has cre­at­ed a tale that cap­tures read­ers’ atten­tion with­in the first few pages and keeps up the pace through the last chap­ter. The char­ac­ters are relat­able, refresh­ing­ly human, and very fun­ny. Quin­nie acts just like a 13-year-old girl would; she is an adult, a child, wise, and very fool­ish all at the same time. Surrisi’s law back­ground lends valu­able per­spec­tive and infor­ma­tion to the mys­tery but is nev­er heavy-hand­ed. Infor­ma­tion is always pro­vid­ed through Quin­nie and with the right lev­el of com­pre­hen­sion for a girl her age. Per­fect for mid­dle school­ers and upper elementary–aged read­ers, this title hits just the right note of sus­pense with­out being too scary.” (School Library Jour­nal)

“[A] sweet mys­tery that man­ages to have sus­pense, bad guys, and dan­ger but avoids gore and being too scary…. This book is rec­om­mend­ed for upper ele­men­tary mys­tery col­lec­tions.” (VOYA)

“Red her­rings aplen­ty will keep read­ers guess­ing about the iden­ti­ty of the crim­i­nals…. Mid­dle-grade read­ers look­ing for an unusu­al pro­tag­o­nist and set­ting will be well served by this.” (Book­list Online)

“C. M. Surrisi’s Quin­nie Boyd is one of the clever­est, most mem­o­rable, young teen pro­tag­o­nists I’ve met in quite a while! Set in a small coastal vil­lage in Maine, much of the humor in this fast-paced read revolves around the quirky vil­lagers, par­tic­u­lar­ly the two elder­ly nuns who dri­ve like NASCAR rac­ers. Surrisi’s debut nov­el is an engag­ing cozy mys­tery, with unpre­dictable twists and turns and an end­ing you’ll applaud!” (Cindy Nor­ris, Author Event Coor­di­na­tor, Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café)