The Lucky House Detective Agency

Given the huge popularity of mysteries, this new series is an ideal introduction to the genre for slightly younger readers. It is packed with all the elements that they will need in order to understand how mysteries work: case notes, clues, suspects and red herrings! It would make a wonderful book to share and solve the mystery together. It is also a book with a wonderful community of characters living in Leighton on Sea where our main protagonists, best friends Felix and Isaac are often to be found helping out in Felix’s family takeaway: The Lucky House. But when the family’s lucky money plant, (a beautiful jade plant Felix’s Mum brought from Hong Kong) is damaged and they discover a strange coin in the soil, they know they have to work out what’s going on. Can there really be a long-lost Chinese treasure at the heart of the mystery? When Felix reluctantly agrees to recruit his ‘know- it -all’ cousin Nina, The Lucky House Detective Agency is born. Initially the suspect list includes all the regular customers who are endearingly referred to by Felix and his Mum by their orders: ‘Sweet and Sour Granny’, ‘Only Chips Please’ and ‘No Peppers’. The reason given for this habit is a witty moment of pure enlightenment (because their names ‘all sounded the same. John. Tom. Joan.’) The whole story is suffused with British-Chinese culture and the reader gets a real insight into the traditions, family values, beliefs and lots of mouthwatering descriptions of food. It is also lovely to see how easily Felix and Isaac move between their homes and cultures and how warmly welcomed they are in each. Isaac is of Jamaican origin and lives with his single parent father. In fact, we get a real picture of the whole diverse community around The Lucky House. Every side character has a back story. Felix is very proud of his family and what they do for the community, even if it seems he must disobey his parents in order to crack the case. When Felix’s recklessness causes Isaac to get hurt, he has to learn that actions have consequences and that detecting can be dangerous. The nuances of their feelings, as friendship twists and turns, is very well described. Packed with diverse representation, humour, lively illustrations and a really cracking mystery, this series deserves to be a big hit.