Fowl Play [Paperback]

Knives OutmeetsFinding Orionin this funny and heartwarming middle grade mystery by award-winning author Kristin O’Donnell Tubb about a girl investigating the recent death of her uncle only to find the healing power of family.

Chloe Alvarez has never been to the reading of a last will and testament before, but she hopes it is just like the movies. Lies! Intrigue! The reading of her Uncle Will’s will is standard, until he announces his gift for Chloe: his African grey parrot, Charlie.

Uncle Will was Chloe’s best friend. Without him, she’s left with only her memories of them together—which come to her in snapshots—and her new friend, Charlie. The parrot has a vast vocabulary, and soon Chloe hears her say something odd:It was murder, followed byhomicideandcyanide. Chloe becomes convinced her uncle Will’s death was foul play. Why else wouldn’t he have told anyone in the family—especiallyChloe—that he was sick?

With the help of her family, Chloe begins the investigation to uncover Uncle Will’s murderer. The suspects: His nosy neighbor. An ex-girlfriend. A rude landlord. A loan shark. But it all leads to more questions than answers. Did someone really kill Uncle Will? Or could this journey help reunite Chloe’s grieving family?

Will delight kids and adults alike... A mystery unfolds within a compelling, joyful story of honoring a loved one by living in the moment.   -Kirkus Reviews

[A] cunning mystery by Tubb (Luna Howls at the Moon), in which a grieving tween’s often laugh-aloud misadventures in detective work bring her estranged family closer together... Typical genre tropes are subverted in delightful ways; rather than solve this harrowing mystery alone, Chloe leans on her family (and Charlie), who tirelessly support her sleuthing antics.   -Publc†