98. The Candy Mafia

The Candy Mafia. Lavie Tidhar. Illustrated by Daniel Duncan. 2020. 256 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: The sun was bright through my office window in the backyard of our house.

 Premise/plot: Imagine a city where candy is outlawed--aka prohibited. Nelle Faulker, our twelve year old heroine, lives in such a place. Her occupation--every child seems occupied somehow--is private detective. Her current case has her investigating the whereabouts of a stolen teddy bear belonging to one Eddie de Menthe. de Menthe is one of the big players in this candy mafia. Remember how I said all the children seemed to be occupied somehow--well many of the children are involved in the delivering, distributing, and selling of illegal candy brought into the city. Nelle's investigation is anything but simple and it takes her much closer to the mafia than she's comfortable with...

My thoughts: I really enjoyed this one! I loved the narrative. I loved the characters. I loved how the plot comes together. (I didn't love, love, love the cover though I liked the interior illustrations better.) It was a fun way to spend a couple of days. Definitely recommended.

This one was originally published in Great Britain in 2018. The first American publication is September 2020.

© 2020 Becky Laney of Young Readers