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quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
”Never eliminate the impossible.”
When Mutt gets a job as an apprentice at the leading detective agency in the realm of Rillia, he’s not expecting to work with ex-princesses, snow gnoblins, and the most notorious assassin of the White Hand Clan.
And he’s definitely not expecting to be thrown in the deep end on the agency’s toughest and most dangerous job yet - the Mysterious Case of the Vanishing Jester …
11-year-old Mutt lives just outside the city of Meandermart in the kingdom of Rillia. His parents died three years ago and he’s tried to live up to their ideals that the family does not steal and does not beg, making a meagre living running errands around Meandermart’s streets and as a result, knows the city inside out. However, one day while trying to avoid the bullies of the Knights’ Academy who constantly chase him to throw him into the water trough, he finds himself lost within the Mages’ Quarter and stumbles on a building that he’s never seen before. It’s the home of the Magical Detective Agency and according to the words hidden on the bottom edge of a sign outside it, they are looking for an apprentice.
Mutt doesn’t know what a detective is, but he does need a place to hide. Inside he finds Clarity Jones (Rillia’s first ever detective who has magical devices, including a trunk with feet, to aid her investigations), Mirko (a giant snow gnoblin who looks tough and scary and is obsessed with keeping things clean and tidy) and Nissassa (a retired assassin around Mutt’s age who was the youngest and most deadly member of the feared White Hand Gang). To his surprise, Clarity seems to see something within him and over Nissassa’s objections offers him a probationary job as an apprentice detective and it isn’t long before the group has its next case.
The Warden of Meandermart - Duchess Peruka - has lost her jester, Handy Dandy, who disappeared from a locked room in a very high, very inaccessible tower. It’s vital that she finds him shortly because she’s due to host some very important guests for the upcoming Moaningtide festival (Rillia’s version of Christmas where everyone complains and has an awful time) and having a jester is a very important status symbol that will show the Duchess’s importance.
Clarity and the gang quickly start to investigate but they soon realise that this is a very complicated case that defies any logical explanation but as Clarity says, you should never eliminate the impossible. When events take a dangerous turn, it will take the combined skills of the agency - including Mutt - to uncover what’s really going on …
Chris Smith’s humorous fantasy mystery for readers aged 9+ nods to Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett and features warm, comic-style illustrations by Kenneth Anderson. Although the culprit is easy to guess, the wry, knowing narrative voice and the way Smith weaves the various plot lines and incorporates backstory and information through segments entitled a Traveller’s Guide to Rillia is very entertaining so I would definitely read a sequel to this.
I picked this up because I’d heard good things about Smith’s other books and I’m always up for a good fantasy mystery with a sense of humour. This book definitely justified the positive reviews that I had read.
There are nods to Douglas Adams here, specifically through the use of sections entitled A Traveller’s Guide to Rillia, which provides readers with information on some of the various magical creatures and places (which feeds into some of the plot lines). Smith has a great imagination and I enjoyed the descriptions of the various magical creatures. Also good is the way he builds in Clarity’s back story, together with the story of how she came to meet Mirko and Nissassa. Although Clarity is the titular character, the book is more about Mutt and his involvement in the detective agency and I think Smith did a good job of making him a sympathetic character but also shows his willingness to work hard, be brave and show initiative. The way Smith establishes Meandermart and his wry observations about how the world of Rillia works reminded me a lot of Terry Pratchett, which is no bad thing. Sometimes the humour in books like this can fall flat but that is not the case here - there are a number of scenes in this book that genuinely had me chuckling out loud.
The story unfolds at a pretty good pace and Smith does well to keep various plot strands balanced before bringing them all together. Mention should be made of Kenneth Anderson’s illustrations, which work well with the text and are drawn in a vaguely comic-book style but also have a lot of energy to them.
All in all, I thought that this was a very entertaining read and it’s perfect if you have a young reader who you’d like to introduce to Pratchett and Adams at some point in the future. There is scope for a sequel to this and I would definitely be up for reading more about this magical detective agency and their adventures.
The Verdict:
Chris Smith’s humorous fantasy mystery for readers aged 9+ nods to Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett and features warm, comic-style illustrations by Kenneth Anderson. Although the culprit is easy to guess, the wry, knowing narrative voice and the way Smith weaves the various plot lines and incorporates backstory and information through segments entitled a Traveller’s Guide to Rillia is very entertaining so I would definitely read a sequel to this.
CLARITY JONES AND THE MAGICAL DETECTIVE AGENCY was released in the United Kingdom on 25th May 2023. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
When Mutt gets a job as an apprentice at the leading detective agency in the realm of Rillia, he’s not expecting to work with ex-princesses, snow gnoblins, and the most notorious assassin of the White Hand Clan.
And he’s definitely not expecting to be thrown in the deep end on the agency’s toughest and most dangerous job yet - the Mysterious Case of the Vanishing Jester …
11-year-old Mutt lives just outside the city of Meandermart in the kingdom of Rillia. His parents died three years ago and he’s tried to live up to their ideals that the family does not steal and does not beg, making a meagre living running errands around Meandermart’s streets and as a result, knows the city inside out. However, one day while trying to avoid the bullies of the Knights’ Academy who constantly chase him to throw him into the water trough, he finds himself lost within the Mages’ Quarter and stumbles on a building that he’s never seen before. It’s the home of the Magical Detective Agency and according to the words hidden on the bottom edge of a sign outside it, they are looking for an apprentice.
Mutt doesn’t know what a detective is, but he does need a place to hide. Inside he finds Clarity Jones (Rillia’s first ever detective who has magical devices, including a trunk with feet, to aid her investigations), Mirko (a giant snow gnoblin who looks tough and scary and is obsessed with keeping things clean and tidy) and Nissassa (a retired assassin around Mutt’s age who was the youngest and most deadly member of the feared White Hand Gang). To his surprise, Clarity seems to see something within him and over Nissassa’s objections offers him a probationary job as an apprentice detective and it isn’t long before the group has its next case.
The Warden of Meandermart - Duchess Peruka - has lost her jester, Handy Dandy, who disappeared from a locked room in a very high, very inaccessible tower. It’s vital that she finds him shortly because she’s due to host some very important guests for the upcoming Moaningtide festival (Rillia’s version of Christmas where everyone complains and has an awful time) and having a jester is a very important status symbol that will show the Duchess’s importance.
Clarity and the gang quickly start to investigate but they soon realise that this is a very complicated case that defies any logical explanation but as Clarity says, you should never eliminate the impossible. When events take a dangerous turn, it will take the combined skills of the agency - including Mutt - to uncover what’s really going on …
Chris Smith’s humorous fantasy mystery for readers aged 9+ nods to Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett and features warm, comic-style illustrations by Kenneth Anderson. Although the culprit is easy to guess, the wry, knowing narrative voice and the way Smith weaves the various plot lines and incorporates backstory and information through segments entitled a Traveller’s Guide to Rillia is very entertaining so I would definitely read a sequel to this.
I picked this up because I’d heard good things about Smith’s other books and I’m always up for a good fantasy mystery with a sense of humour. This book definitely justified the positive reviews that I had read.
There are nods to Douglas Adams here, specifically through the use of sections entitled A Traveller’s Guide to Rillia, which provides readers with information on some of the various magical creatures and places (which feeds into some of the plot lines). Smith has a great imagination and I enjoyed the descriptions of the various magical creatures. Also good is the way he builds in Clarity’s back story, together with the story of how she came to meet Mirko and Nissassa. Although Clarity is the titular character, the book is more about Mutt and his involvement in the detective agency and I think Smith did a good job of making him a sympathetic character but also shows his willingness to work hard, be brave and show initiative. The way Smith establishes Meandermart and his wry observations about how the world of Rillia works reminded me a lot of Terry Pratchett, which is no bad thing. Sometimes the humour in books like this can fall flat but that is not the case here - there are a number of scenes in this book that genuinely had me chuckling out loud.
The story unfolds at a pretty good pace and Smith does well to keep various plot strands balanced before bringing them all together. Mention should be made of Kenneth Anderson’s illustrations, which work well with the text and are drawn in a vaguely comic-book style but also have a lot of energy to them.
All in all, I thought that this was a very entertaining read and it’s perfect if you have a young reader who you’d like to introduce to Pratchett and Adams at some point in the future. There is scope for a sequel to this and I would definitely be up for reading more about this magical detective agency and their adventures.
The Verdict:
Chris Smith’s humorous fantasy mystery for readers aged 9+ nods to Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett and features warm, comic-style illustrations by Kenneth Anderson. Although the culprit is easy to guess, the wry, knowing narrative voice and the way Smith weaves the various plot lines and incorporates backstory and information through segments entitled a Traveller’s Guide to Rillia is very entertaining so I would definitely read a sequel to this.
CLARITY JONES AND THE MAGICAL DETECTIVE AGENCY was released in the United Kingdom on 25th May 2023. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
