Dead Guys Talk

Wild Willie #5

by Barbara M. Joosse, Abby Carter (Illustrations)

After receiving an unsigned note with an urgent plea for help and a map to the cemetery, best friends and detectives Willie, Kyle, and Lucy discover that someone is planning on relocating the cemetery's bodies and building a new mall on the property. The nature of this case makes the Scarface detectives more than a little nervous, so they hire Chuckie, the neighborhood bully, as a bodyguard, and set about finding out just who is planning on moving the dead guys as well as figuring out a way to stop them. But more puzzling than the case itself is the mystery of who their client is. Could it be Loony Lorraine, the deceased detective whose old office is the detectives' headquarters? Can dead guys talk? Once again, Barbara Joosse has created a hilarious, spooky, kid-friendly story perfect for all 7-to-10-year-olds, particularly reluctant readers.

Genres: Mystery

100 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

[Author also goes by the name Barbara Joosse.]

Barbara M. Joosse has written many books for children. Among them are Mama, Do You Love Me?, illustrated by Barbara Lavallee; and I Love You the Purplest, illustrated by Mary Whyte. She says, "When I was a little girl, I wished for two things — a best friend, and something so ferocious it would scare away the monsters under my bed. And so I have written Lovabye Dragon. I think maybe it’s for little me." Barbara Josse lives in Wisconsin.

Reviews

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Age of readership: 9-12
Genre: Mystery
Diversity: Friendship, youth detectives
Description of the illustrations: Black colored pencil and wash
Personal response to the book: Humorous story from the Wild Willie series about friends that are detectives trying so solve a mystery of a cemetery. A nice book for young readers.
Curricular and programming connections: The book could be used as a learning unit on working together and solving problems.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid good children's mystery with a little humor thrown in. Three friends who have a detective agency receive a mysterious note that says, "Help!" This leads them to a cemetary and more notes. Turns out someone wants to move the cemetary and all of its inhabitants so they can build a shopping mall. Some mysterious other person wants the detective agency to keep it from happening.

[RLL52013_NicoleHill · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this Wild Willie Mystery, the Scarface Detectives face one of their strangest cases, a note from the ghost of "Loony" Loraine Lamonde. Willie, Kyle, and Lucy's most recent case is to find out who wants to build a mall on Oak Hill Cemetery and how to prevent the mall from being built.

This is a fun mystery. I would definitely use it in my classroom and recommend it to my students.

[Kate Hastings]

RL 400