Staff Review: "Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective: The Case of the Time Capsule Bandit" by Octavia Spencer

Miranda Rhodes is a tough 12 year old who has been solving mysteries in her Brooklyn neighborhood for the last year, ever since her mother died.  It's just been her and her mystery author Dad who doesn't seen to notice much.  But now Dad's decided they need a change and they're moving to the sleepy town of Deer Creek, Tennessee.  It's fun to visit in the summer, but Randi doesn't want to live there.  What crimes could possibly happen for her to solve?

She changes her mind when the town's time capsule is stolen from right under everyone's noses.  The legend is that the time capsule tells where the town's treasure is buried.  It cold mean riches for everyone.  Without it, the whole town could go under and the place will get turned into a golf resort!  With the help of her new friend, D.C., Randi is on the case and is determined to find the time capsule, catch the crook and find the town's missing treasure. 

Randi is spunky and sassy-not a girly girl, but not exactly a tomboy.  She is a big-time rule-breaker.  She loves martial arts and especially admires Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan.  She's not really the kind of girl I would be friends with, but I think a lot of kids can relate to her.  She misses her mother so badly, but her and her Dad never really talk about it and that only makes it worse.  This gets brought up and worked through a bit in the book, but I'm hoping it comes up again in other books.  I suspect a step-mother is not too far in Randi's future.

Dario Cruz, who goes by D.C., and his mother bought the apple orchard in Deer Creek, but they're having trouble paying the mortgage.  He's a hard worker and helps his Mom as much as he can.  Because D.C. was born premature, he has some health problems.  He wears hearing aids to help him hear and he has asthma that he works to control.  But he also loves martial arts and his hearing impairment makes him great at reading lips!  

This dynamic duo forms the Ninja Detectives to save the town!  There's a great cast of characters in this book.  The crooked politician, the crabby old miser, and the greedy bank president are all suspects.  But add the kindly ice cream parlor owner, the overweight sheriff and the sweet housekeeper/nanny and Deer Creek feels a little like Mayberry.
"Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective: The Case of the Time Capsule Bandit" is the first book in the series by Academy Award winning actress Octavia Spencer, but look for more to come.  Great adventure story to middle grade students who liked The Goonies, Missing on Superstition Mountain or Chasing Vermeer.

 --Angie RH, Headquarters