Dead Man's Hand

Gr 6–9—Fourteen-year-old Nick Caden, teen techie and amateur online sleuth, gets involved with solving a murder while on vacation out West with his family. Within minutes of arriving at Deadwood Canyon Ghost Town, where guests go on buffalo hunts, attend cowboy poetry readings, and mingle with reenactors, Nick discovers a dead body that promptly disappears. When no one believes him, the marshal "deputizes" him to investigate. While Nick interrogates one clichéd suspect after another, readers will struggle to find real clues in this mystery and be hard-pressed to find reference to the "dead man's hand." The premise is an interesting one, but it's bogged down with overly wordy, often clunky narrative and the protagonist's unrealistic voice. Biblical references are randomly interjected and don't fit with the story. Nick experiences multiple implausible situations, such as nearly being bludgeoned in a cemetery, snake encounters, and getting trapped in an abandoned mine with the marshal's niece (a romantic interest), who is supposed to "keep an eye on [him]." Readers can skip this rocky misadventure.—Madeline J. Bryant, Los Angeles Public Library