Down the Rabbit Hole (Echo Falls Mystery Book 1)

From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. In his first novel for kids, bestselling author Abrahams unspools a tale that fittingly gets curiouser and curiouser. The story shines on audio via a fine performance by Siegfried. As 13-year-old Ingrid Levin-Hill, Siegfried uses a youthful voice to convey the protagonist's age-appropriate blend of smarts, awkwardness and stubborn streak. Budding thespian and sudden amateur sleuth (who idolizes Sherlock Holmes) Ingrid finds herself in the middle of both the community theater production of Alice in Wonderland and a local murder mystery. Will her connection to the deceased be discovered? Does the creepy new actor-director in town have something to do with it all? Listeners will stick with Ingrid to find out—and may well gather some of their own theories—in this satisfyingly suspenseful outing. The fresh dialogue and believable small-town setting will tempt fans to visit Echo Falls again for any sequels. Ages 10-up. (Apr.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Peter Abrahams is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-five books, including the Edgar Award-winning Reality Check , Bullet Point , and the Echo Falls series for middle graders. Writing as Spencer Quinn, he is also the author of the Chet and Bernie series— Dog on It , Thereby Hangs a Tail , and To Fetch a Thief . He and his wife live in Massachusetts with their dog, Audrey. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From AudioFile Listeners may be familiar with Peter Abrahams as an Edgar Award nominee for his adult thrillers. In his first novel for the younger set, he succeeds in creating a tantalizing mystery. Mandy Siegfried perfectly captures teenaged Ingrid's doubt, snideness, and bravado, grabbing the listener's interest right away. The upbeat rock music introducing each disc doesn't hurt either. As the title suggests, Ingrid feels a lot like Alice down the rabbit hole when she realizes she was the last person to see a local actress alive. Not only does Ingrid find herself in the theater playing Alice in Alice in Wonderland, but her new boyfriend's father, the sheriff, is following up clues that are pointing way too close to her. D.G. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Down the Rabbit Hole An Echo Falls Mystery By Peter Abrahams HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Copyright ©2006 Peter AbrahamsAll right reserved. ISBN: 0060737034 Chapter One Ingrid Levin-Hill, three weeks past her thirteenth birthday, sat thinking in her orthodontist's waiting room. You're born cute. Babies are cute. Not hard to guess why -- it's so everyone will forgive them for being such a pain. You grow a little older, and people say, "What beautiful hair," or "Get a load of those baby blues," or something nice that keeps you thinking you're still on the cuteness track. Then you hit twelve or thirteen and boom, they tell you that everything needs fixing. Waiting in the wings are the orthodontist, the dermatologist, the contact lens guy, the hair-tinting guy, maybe even the nose-job guy. You look at yourself in the mirror, really look at yourself, for the first time. And what do you see? Oh my God. Two orthodontists divided the business in Echo Falls: Dr. Lassiter, who didn't mind pulling a tooth or two to speed things along, and Dr. Binkerman, who liked to say he'd turn in his badge before sacrificing a single tooth. One kind of parents sent their kids to Dr. Lassiter. Ingrid, whose parents were of the other kind, was well into her second year with Dr. Binkerman, and behind her braces lurked the same jumble of teeth she'd come in with in the first place. And by the way, what stupid badge was he talking about? Ingrid flipped to another page of Seventeen. The glossy paper made an angry snapping sound. Flirting Tips:Where the Hotties Are In the weight room, of course. Soit's important to get down withall that weight room terminology.Cut, ripped, reps, lats, pecs,curls, dips, jacked, juiced -- is thisa weird lingo or what? Let's startwith reps. Reps is simply short for -- "Ingrid?" Ingrid looked up. Mary Jane, the chairside assistant, stood in the doorway that led back to the operatories, the expression on her face a little exasperated, as though maybe she'd been calling Ingrid for some time. If so, Ingrid really hadn't heard. Reading -- it didn't matter what -- always did that to her. "All set," said Mary Jane. Ingrid followed her. There were two chairside assistants: Mary Jane, who wore her gray hair in a bun and always had circles under her eyes, and a younger one, who changed every two months or so. Mary Jane motioned Ingrid to the chair and raised it just as Dr. Binkerman strode in, flexing his surgically gloved hands. "And how's Ingrid today?" he said, looming into extreme close-up, his gaze locking on her teeth. Like Sherlock Holmes -- The Complete Sherlock Holmes had been sitting on her bedside table for years -- Ingrid was a habitual noticer of little things. Sherlock Holmes believed you could find out just about all you needed to know about people from little things; his method, as he told Dr. Watson more than once, was founded on the observation of trifles. Trifles were things like the single but surprisingly long white hair poking out of Dr. Binkerman's left nostril; the sleepy seed, lima bean colored, in the corner of his right eye; the pinprick-size blackhead on the end of his nose, a millimeter off-center. All these trifles added up to the glamorous Dr. Binkerman, hard-riding sheriff of the overbite range. And what was the question? How's Ingrid today? "She's fine," said Ingrid. "Open, please," said Dr. Binkerman. He peered inside her mouth, felt around in back, where the screws were, with his rubbery fingers. "Been wearing the appliance?" he said. "Uh-huh," said Ingrid. "Every night?" Dr. Binkerman drew back, looking at her whole face for the first time, fingers out of her mouth now so she could speak clearly ... Continues... Excerpted from Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams Copyright ©2006 by Peter Abrahams. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site. --This text refers to the paperback edition. Welcome to Echo Falls, home of a thousand secrets. Ingrid is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or at least her shoes are. And getting them back will mean getting tangled up in a murder investigation as complicated as the mysteries solved by her idol, Sherlock Holmes. With soccer practice, schoolwork, and the lead role in her town's production of Alice in Wonderland , Ingrid is swamped. But as things in Echo Falls keep getting curiouser and curiouser, Ingrid realizes she must solve the murder on her own -- before it's too late! --This text refers to the paperback edition. From School Library Journal Grade 6-9–An avid reader of Sherlock Holmes, Ingrid Levin-Hill, 13, is also a fleet-footed soccer player with a knack for stage acting–skills that come in handy when she finds herself caught in a police investigation following the murder of an eccentric woman. The deceased was associated with the Prescott Players, a local theater troupe in which Ingrid lands the title role in a production of Alice in Wonderland . Plot scenes incorporate play rehearsals, family life, middle school, and soccer games along with plenty of intriguing twists and mounting tension. Taking courage from her crusty grandfather, who refuses to sell his farm to an affluent developer, Ingrid acts with aplomb as she secretly undertakes a series of suspenseful adventures to track down the killer. She also maintains the cool-headedness to enjoy the friendship of the police chief's son, Joey Strade, while keeping the officers who'd like to question her at bay. Ingrid's poise, however, is tempered by her self-doubt and troubled dreams, making her a believable human. She and the other main characters are all solidly drawn, including the newest member of her family, a droopy-eyed dog named Nigel. Deft use of literary allusions and ironic humor add further touches of class to a topnotch mystery. –Susan W. Hunter, Riverside Middle School, Springfield, VT Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Booklist *Starred Review* Gr. 7-10. Thriller writer Abrahams crosses into youth territory in this rich, smoothly written mystery with a protagonist whose character is as substantial as her name and whose home and school experiences have the feel of real, sometimes messy middle-class life. When Ingrid Levin-Hill, 13, decides to run to soccer practice rather than wait for her ride, she gets lost in a not-so-nice part of town. Luckily, Cracked-Up Katie, one of Echo Falls' oddballs, calls her a cab. Convinced that full disclosure will only cause a lecture, Ingrid keeps her secret. Imagine her shock when she learns that Katie has been murdered--and Ingrid's cleats are at the crime scene. It isn't long before Ingrid starts feeling like Alice in Wonderland plunging down the rabbit hole. Homey details add enormously to the texture of the backdrop, and characters, including adults, are fully realized: Ingrid's not above a snotty comeback when she is feeling ornery or sees through adult pretense; curmudgeonly Grampy puts VO in his tea and defies convention by teaching Ingrid target shooting; and there's more to Joey Strade than his clumsy crush on Ingrid. Abrahams is concerned with adult motivations here, and his irony occasionally seems too arch for kids. But there's also plenty of excitement and just-right humor (Mom's constant concern about Ingrid's retainer is classic) as Ingrid's Alice-like curiosity pilots her, in bumbling stops and starts, right into the arms of a killer. Great start for the Echo Falls series. Stephanie Zvirin Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. "This is just one walloping good suspense yarn. I couldn't put it down and go to bed until I'd finished the last fifty pages." (Stephen King)" --This text refers to the library edition. Read more