In J.C. Moran’s “Crazy Eights: Myla Maps Out a Mystery,” a fun romp for younger middle-grade readers, the main character unravels a mystery that involves a missing map, treasure (pieces of eight) and her new neighbors, who seem to have something up their sleeve … or in their backyard, to be more precise.
Myla is naturally curious, and the fact that her father is a detective on the local police force means she is understandably drawn to being a detective. She and her friend Dex spend lots of their time with binoculars staring out Myla’s front window, trying to find clues to why the neighbors, the Dankworths, are so secretive.
Meanwhile, Myla gets a school assignment that lines up perfectly with her curiosity. Her social-studies teacher, Mr. Sulamita, introduces a unit on immigration. The students must interview one person who has moved from somewhere else to their central North Carolina town, either from another part of the country or from a different country.
Dex decides to interview their friend Ginny’s mother, since Ginny’s family came from Mexico. (Ginny is a minor character but gives the reader some exposure to basic Spanish vocabulary, which is nice.) Myla announces she will interview Mrs. Dankworth. Dex and Ginny don’t think Myla will even get anyone to answer the door, so Myla bets them an ice cream sundae that she will get her interview.
At the same time, Myla begins an internship at the police station through a program called the Cadet Club, where interested students are matched with a member of the police force. Myla gets matched with Detective Reesner, who has recently moved to her town from Boston.
Myla, curious as ever, eavesdrops when Reesner gets a phone call. She hears enough to know that he is on a case involving a forged map and a theft at the Cate Museum in Boston. Thanks to Google, Myla learns the backstory, which involves a treasure map that was stolen from the museum and a forgery that was left in its place. The treasure, taken from a sunken ship during the American Revolution, is estimated to be worth $19 million. The theft was discovered only recently, and so far, the Boston police have not solved the mystery.
In a stroke of luck, Mrs. Dankworth does answer her door and lets Myla into their surprisingly fancy home. The interview, using the questions Mr. Sulamita gave them, goes smoothly.
Myla, meanwhile, is also looking everywhere to find clues to the Dankworths’ behavior. As she is leaving, Myla notices a picture of the Dankworths all dressed up in front of a building with the letters “C” “A” “T” behind them.
At her next meeting with Detective Reesner, Myla starts to tell him about her suspicions regarding her neighbors. It turns out Reesner is surveilling that house himself and has that same photo in his file, but the people have different names. What is going on?!
In this debut novel, Moran, who is also an award-winning board-game maker, tells a fun, gripping story — not too complicated, not too scary, with plenty of fun characters. A great adventure for a young reader!
Deb Aronson is an Urbana-based author who writes about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Her latest book is ‘How to Raise a Rhino’ (Bedazzled Books).
