My Book Review of 'Howard Wallace, P.I.'

Hi! Today I’m going to review the middle grade mystery book, Howard Wallace, P.I.

This is a fun middle grade book that I think would be appropriate for older children as well. It basically takes the hardboiled mystery genre and puts it in middle school, and Howard Wallace is a kid who is essentially the school P.I. He adopts all the mannerisms — maybe not all, but you get the idea. He has kind of the lingo and the attitude of the old hardboiled private eye. And there’s a new girl in school who basically comes along and is his match in terms of going toe-to-toe with him and being able to solve mysteries.

The thing I like about this book is not only that it brings in all these old tropes in a new setting but that it shows that you can write a mystery that’s engaging and fun without being overly violent, having a murder, or relying on gore. And it can be a fun thing to write a hardboiled mystery, so to speak. So, a hardboiled mystery in a middle school setting. I just think it’s genius and I wish I’d thought of it first. 🙂

So Casey Lyall is the author. Howard Wallace P.I. is the first in a series of three books, and I would love to read the next two based on what I’ve seen here. So I highly recommend this.