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June 03, 2015

Down the Rabbit Hole: An Echo Falls Mystery

Down the Rabbit HoleDown the Rabbit Hole: An Echo Falls Mystery

By: Peter Abrahams

13 year old Ingrid Levin Hill lives with her parents, brother and a goofy dog named Nigel in the small town of Echo Falls. She is a star soccer player, budding actress and a lover of Sherlock Holmes. When Ingrid wins the part of Alice, in the Prescott Players local production of Alice in Wonderland, she is thrilled. One afternoon, when her mother is late picking her up for soccer practice, she impulsively decides to walk to the soccer field and encounters Cracked-Up Katie, a weird lady from the wrong side of town. When Katie is found dead, Ingrid realizes that she was the last one to see her alive and she has left her soccer cleats at Katie’s house. Ingrid breaks into the house to retrieve them only to discover that she isn’t the only one in the house looking for something. When the director of the Prescott Players has an accident (or was it) on stage, she discovers that there might be a link between Cracked-Up Katie and the Prescott Players. Because she walked to that side of town without her parent’s permission, Ingrid is afraid to tell them about seeing Katie. Is she going to be implicated in Katie’s murder?  As the wrong suspects are arrested and the police get further from the truth, Ingrid asks herself “what would Sherlock do” and she decides to investigate, putting her own life in danger. As her life spirals out of control, much like it did for Alice in Wonderland, readers will be drawn into this mystery. Soon things become difficult because of her budding friendship/romance with the police chief’s son, her relationship with her older brother who has anger issues, her crusty Grampy who refuses to sell his farmland to a wealthy developer and her parents who are dealing with their own problems. Ingrid is a normal eighth grader who is cleaver but impulsive and she doesn’t always make the best decisions but readers will love her. This suspenseful book is the first of a three part mystery series about Ingrid and her family in Echo Falls. After reading this first installment, you will want to revisit Echo Falls in Behind the Curtain: An Echo Falls Mystery, the second book in the series.  (Grade 6-up)

Review By: Jan Bridges