The Emily Carr Mystery

Tom and Liz Austen #19

by Eric Wilson

The other boat was getting close--the spotlight beam swept back and forth across the waves, searching. I was freaked out of my mind!

Liz Austen dives into trouble after arriving in romantic Victoria for the wedding of her best friend, Tiffany. They are swept up in the strange world of the ancient Thirteen Oaks mansion and its troubled inhabitants, the deMornay family. Many dangers lurk in this exciting new adventure from Eric Wilson!

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Canada, Teen, Young Adult, Childrens

Paperback

First published August 1, 2000

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Eric Wilson is a Canadian children's author and now living in Victoria, British Columbia.

Reviews

[C. (Don't blank click my reviews, comment please! · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eric Wilson was wonderfully passionate about showing us Victoria, which he and his wife Flo made home. My favourite part is that he placed themselves into “The Emily Carr Mystery” when Liz Austen joined a group welcoming tourist ships; a vicarious moment of the author speaking with a long-loved character. The mystery was creative but characters essentially ran around hoping to spot the culprit. My stars stretch as high as appreciation allows but enough factors raised my eyebrows that I said three. A deal-breaker plummeted feedback to two stars.

Don't ever mention foie gras approvingly! In 2001, Eric could not have known what is done to geese in its fabrication. Even people not inclined to advocacy ban this torture, when they hear of it. I am not cutting Eric slack because he appointed himself an animal spokesperson by lecturing that pets ought not be adopted in December. Not helping an awkward vibe, I've read that Emily Carr killed animals of whom she could not take care; instead of returning them to the wild! I wince at people crediting her as an animal-lover. I could not join these characters' reverence of her.

This adventure prioritizes showing why Victoria is special. Novels need a backdrop and I loved this. I went to Victoria so briefly, for a wedding, I toured nothing and have no recall of it! I would smile about visiting all these places Eric shared, if I returned. Teaching wisdom to children in fiction is swell too but Eric fumbled the ball in that respect. He can be so obvious about it, wrongdoers come out as cartoons. The boy Tiffany ought not marry, her Dad caring about a swanky event more than her future. If only Eric learned subtlety, his adventurous mind would take his energetic novels to rich heights.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best mystery of the series so far (I haven't read all of them yet or read them in order). It is much more developed than the earlier books in the series and Liz feels like she has developed because she knows martial arts in this book, which she didn't know in The St. Andrew's Werewolf, for example. There are enough red herrings in here to throw readings off while still having the story make sense. Both the scenes and the characters feels more developed than past books of the series. There is still strange dialogue at times or awkward dialogue segues, however. I like how the author added himself and his wife into the cruise ship scene. I just wish the author had kept this format for books after this one; I've only read #19: The Lost Treasure of Casa Loma and that one was disappointing because of its lack of character development and other issues.

[Bee Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew of most of the places in the book, so it was fun to read Liz travel around the city. An intriguing book, I kept wanting to read more. I'm definitely keeping this book. I wrote down some of the places and events from the book so I can go visit the locations. Thankfully summer is just starting so the city will be bustling with more events! I want to try and go see the Moss Ave. Paint-In (now know as Art Gallery Paint-In).

It was a great read, but it wasn't much of a surprise that the painting was a forgery. As soon as it got returned I guessed it mustn't have been the real painting.

But otherwise a great read!

[Alexia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Liz Austen is Nancy Drew if she was Canadian and sanctimonious. I guess since this is a childrens novel the author wanted to instil good values in his readers, but it’s unnecessary.
The writing is awkward - the dialog is stilted and all of the excursions made me think this was sponsored by the tourism board of Victoria!
Otherwise a decent kids mystery i guess. I only read it bc as a child the cover intrigued me but i never found it at the library back then.
I do love how everyone including his own siblings turn on Paris lmao

[Tracee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh boy, another book desperately full of name droppings around Victoria 🙄

I know it’s aimed at middle schoolers but there’s some pretty dangerous information in here already - aiming his boat at the catamaran to try and slide under it? Then jumping from the boat to swim ashore to outswim a badguy in these cold waters? Again, I say 🙄

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

:)

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute YA read. It was a mystery with a bit of romance thrown in.
Took place in Victoria BC.

[Felix · Rating 5 out of 5]

This guy has an Emily Carr painting which nobody knows about and it gets stolen.