The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity
The Brixton Brothers series, Book 1
Mac Barnett
Simon and Schuster
Fiction, MG Humor/Mystery
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Steve Brixton may just be a kid, but he already knows what he wants to be when he grows up: a private detective. He already knows everything he needs to know about sleuthing and catching criminals thanks to his favorite book series, the Bailey Brothers, and their handy guide for aspiring young detectives, The Bailey Brothers' Detective Handbook. All he needs is a case to get him started... but he never expected to stumble into one thanks to his social studies class, of all things, and certainly not researching the history of American needlework for an eight-page essay (due Monday). When he tries to check out the town library's only book on the subject, all heck breaks loose. Suddenly, he's on the run from both the librarians - really a secret society of elite agents that makes the FBI look like Cub Scouts - and the law, with everyone convinced he's an undercover private eye working for a mysterious figure known only as Mr. E. The only way to prove he's not a real detective is to find Mr. E for himself - a dangerous caper that might stump even the famed Bailey Brothers.
REVIEW: A tongue-in-cheek riff on boy detective series like the Hardy Boys, The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity pits a young would-be detective against intentionally over-the-top baddies in a twisty, turny plot that both leans on and tweaks familiar tropes. Steve thinks he has what it takes to be a real, live crime fighter, and even outsmarts his mother's new cop boyfriend by cracking a burglary at the dinner table, Encyclopedia Brown style (not that the man believes him, or appreciates the boy showing him up). But it's one thing to read about the fictional Bailey Brothers stalking smugglers and dodging gunfire, and a whole different thing altogether when armed men are breaking through the library windows hunting him down for trying to check out an old book on quilts. Still, Steve has his notebook, his mail-order official Bailey Brothers detective badge, his handbook for young detectives, and even his magnifying glass (which is apparently a vital accessory to any private eye, though he only figures out a use for it later on), and it's not like he has a choice about taking the case when the case is literally dropped in his lap... and when failure means either being hauled off to jail as a national traitor or taken away to a secret compound by the shadow organization of librarians, which might be even worse. Of course, one thing he knows from his reading is that every good detective has a "chum", or partner, though his best friend Dana isn't exactly thrilled to be drug into the role of sidekick, and even less thrilled by Steve calling him "chum" all the time, which in a modern coastal town is more often associated with fish bait than with partnership (the Bailey Brothers aren't exactly a modern duo). Through a combination of pluck, cleverness, sheer luck, and beneficial failures, not to mention a handbook that sometimes is more hindrance than help, Steve manages to make his way through the tale, though not without several setbacks and contusions. The whole manages to be amusing, delivering chuckles and thrills and intentional ridiculousness.
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