Friday Barnes: In plain sight by R.A. Spratt

Friday Barnes is nearly 16 and has refined her problem-solving and detective skills to a high standard - a standard that makes her useful to the King of Norway when his daughter, Princess Ingrid, goes missing with her fiancé, Binky. (Friday has solved many problems and mysteries over the course of the 12 books that precede this one.) With her friend Melanie (who is Binky’s sister) she travels to New York to find the Princess and unwittingly gets involved in solving a plot to steal an artefact from a museum. As always she is able to discern truth from the confusion of misdirection and solve mysteries that police have no clue about.

Because this is Book 13 in the Friday Barnes series and Friday has grown considerably, with romance in her life and even a role with Interpol, this is more than a pre-teen story. Readers who began the series with Friday would have outgrown her exploits, and the younger readers (in the 9-12 age bracket) who are now binge-reading the series are almost too young to connect to Friday’s romantic teen life and turmoils. Despite this, readers who enjoy mysteries and quirky characters will keep reading. Although I have read at least one Friday Barnes story, I did find it initially challenging to step into Book 13, as the preamble indicating background details was light in detail. So it is not recommended that a reader starts their journey with Friday Barnes with this book, but it is not impossible to discover character traits and background without having read other stories. R A Spratt writes with a light touch, with a hint of ironic humour at times, and this is why her Friday Barnes series is well-liked.

Themes: Mystery, Museums, Theft, Royalty.

Carolyn Hull