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Knox Chase on the Case: of the Valentine's Day Mystery
Advanced Praise for Knox Chase on the Case of the Valentine's Day Mystery : “An utterly charming adventure brimming with wit, heart and intrigue. A stellar debut!” Ransom Riggs, New York Times Best Selling Author of Ms. Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. “Lipsius brings a black-and-white hero into the vibrant world of today’s kids. Children, parents, and grandparents will find plenty to laugh about and bond over with this soon-to-be serial classic.” Brigid Pasulka , PEN/Hemingway Award Winning Author of A Long Long Time Ago and Essentially True : The debut novel in the Knox Chase on the Case series was written by film director, Adam Lipsius. This story harkens back to the books we read as children, where kids solve their own problems because they've always had the power to make a difference. Soon to be a major motion picture from the producer of "Napoleon Dynamite" and the director of "16-LOVE." KC Green is a small-town kid with a big-time imagination -- and an even bigger secret. He can see the pulp fiction detective he was named for from the 1930s & 40s Knox Chase on the Case novels, and no one else can. This old school gumshoe lands our hero into tons of small-time trouble, but when a mysterious stranger bumps into KC on Valentine's Day, a crime wave hits town. Someone is trying to steal a fortune, and they'll hurt anyone who gets in the way. It takes all of KC's wits, his invisible partner, and his best friends, Cat & Ben, just to stay alive in the Case of the Valentine's Day Mystery.
310 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 8, 2016
An occult premise that works because everything else reminds teens and adults of their experiences
Given the basic premise of the book, it is a bit of a surprise that it works as well as it does. KC Green is a boy that apparently has read far too many mystery novels, specifically those featuring Knox Chase, a pulp fiction detective. Chase was the hero of a series of novels that KC’s father, an FBI agent, read to him when he was young. KC now wants very much to be a detective and a ghostly image of Chase regularly appears and is visible only to KC. They can talk back and forth but KC is the only one that can see and hear Knox Chase.
The story opens with eleven-year-old KC writing a Valentine to Cat, a girl he really likes but that turns his tongue and lips into limp masses of nearly useless pulp in her presence. That Valentine is put into an envelope, but then by coincidence KC collides with a mysterious person carrying a similar envelope and they are switched. KC is now in possession of a message that announces a robbery. Even though he has to recover from some major embarrassment in front of Cat when he gives her what he thinks is a Valentine, KC quickly goes into detective mode.
KC’s friend Benjy, Cat and KC form a team of detectives that work together in an attempt to piece together a series of clues. Knox Chase appears on occasion to communicate with KC but his comments often make the Oracle at Delphi sound terse and explicit.
Unlike some of the other detective books for children, there is a real and dangerous criminal on the loose that will consider actions up to and including murder in order to get their way. This puts the gang of three in danger, but they are also children, so they bike when tracking down clues, their parents want to reign them in away from danger and they have to attend school like all other children.
The level of the text is low enough so that middle school children will understand it yet high enough so that adults can also enjoy it. Although the involvement of the ghost of a fictional detective seems absurd, it is a plot device that works, even though it creates problems for KC. The conversations between KC and Knox have that aspect of communication between a young teen and an adult where both state grammatically correct sentences that the other has a difficult time understanding.
KC also has other problems typical of modern children, there is a violent bully at school, his parents are in effect separated due to his father’s working out of town and he can’t seem to even talk to the female recipient of his crush. Therefore, KC is a boy that nearly all children can relate to, including their fantasies about solving real crimes and being a hero. Most adults still remember their teen years so they will be able to put themselves into KC’s position, even years after they lived through their own version of teen angst. KC is a boy hero and Cat is a girl hero that people of all ages can identify with. Females of all ages will appreciate Cat’s skills and forceful attitude.
This book was made available for free for review purposes and this review also appears on Amazon
Given the basic premise of the book, it is a bit of a surprise that it works as well as it does. KC Green is a boy that apparently has read far too many mystery novels, specifically those featuring Knox Chase, a pulp fiction detective. Chase was the hero of a series of novels that KC’s father, an FBI agent, read to him when he was young. KC now wants very much to be a detective and a ghostly image of Chase regularly appears and is visible only to KC. They can talk back and forth but KC is the only one that can see and hear Knox Chase.
The story opens with eleven-year-old KC writing a Valentine to Cat, a girl he really likes but that turns his tongue and lips into limp masses of nearly useless pulp in her presence. That Valentine is put into an envelope, but then by coincidence KC collides with a mysterious person carrying a similar envelope and they are switched. KC is now in possession of a message that announces a robbery. Even though he has to recover from some major embarrassment in front of Cat when he gives her what he thinks is a Valentine, KC quickly goes into detective mode.
KC’s friend Benjy, Cat and KC form a team of detectives that work together in an attempt to piece together a series of clues. Knox Chase appears on occasion to communicate with KC but his comments often make the Oracle at Delphi sound terse and explicit.
Unlike some of the other detective books for children, there is a real and dangerous criminal on the loose that will consider actions up to and including murder in order to get their way. This puts the gang of three in danger, but they are also children, so they bike when tracking down clues, their parents want to reign them in away from danger and they have to attend school like all other children.
The level of the text is low enough so that middle school children will understand it yet high enough so that adults can also enjoy it. Although the involvement of the ghost of a fictional detective seems absurd, it is a plot device that works, even though it creates problems for KC. The conversations between KC and Knox have that aspect of communication between a young teen and an adult where both state grammatically correct sentences that the other has a difficult time understanding.
KC also has other problems typical of modern children, there is a violent bully at school, his parents are in effect separated due to his father’s working out of town and he can’t seem to even talk to the female recipient of his crush. Therefore, KC is a boy that nearly all children can relate to, including their fantasies about solving real crimes and being a hero. Most adults still remember their teen years so they will be able to put themselves into KC’s position, even years after they lived through their own version of teen angst. KC is a boy hero and Cat is a girl hero that people of all ages can identify with. Females of all ages will appreciate Cat’s skills and forceful attitude.
This book was made available for free for review purposes and this review also appears on Amazon
January 2, 2016
A great read! Adam Lipsius' debut young adult detective story will intrigue and delight readers young and old. My 8 and 12 year old sons and I thoroughly enjoyed the adventures of KC Green and his namesake Knox Chase, and hope that this is the first of many books featuring these clever characters. That seems to be a likely outcome as the book will soon be made into a major motion picture - it's easy to see that will be a huge success as the imagery in the book practically translates itself into what can be envisioned on the big screen.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews