THE ROSE QUEEN (Missing Persons Case #1)
M.E. Rabb
Puffin Books
Mystery
ISBN: 0142500410
Ages 12-17
192 pages

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Sophie Shattenberg tells the story of how, soon after their father dies, she and older sister Sam, two dark-haired Jewish girls from New York, become two blonde gentile residents of Venice, Indiana. Enid, their evil stepmother, plans to send Sophie to a boarding school in Canada. Sam and her friend Felix arrange their disappearance and whisk $300,000 of the money their father left to Enid into their own account. Sam orders Sophie to pack --- and she takes everything, including two hair dryers (the travel model and the regular one). All goes smoothly: bleaching their hair blonde, changing their names to Sam and Fiona Scott, and procuring new identification.

Their ancient (new-to-them) car quits on them in the tiny Indiana town. They stay, renting a small pink Victorian cottage and getting jobs at the country club. Sophie and Sam make friends fast --- most people are extraordinarily nice, except for snobby Noelle and her clique. Sophie crushes on hunky lifeguard Troy (Noelle's boyfriend, unfortunately) and becomes close friends with nice guy Colin.

A necklace appears in Sophie's mailbox with a card "from your secret admirer." Sophie is beside herself with joy, imagining that it's a gift from Troy. Then Noelle goes missing, and Sophie discovers the necklace once belonged to Noelle! More bad news: Sophie and Sam were evidently the last ones to see Noelle. When the police find blood in the sisters' car, Sophie is under suspicion. Desperate to discover what actually happened, the two missing girls labor to find another missing girl. When Sophie is ordered to date Troy and question him, she exults, "Being a detective rocked."

Unlike many mystery series, these characters have substance. Sophie narrates --- and she's a hoot. But she also feels grief and longing for her parents and her home; she reads great books; she loves her sister; she adores fashion, old movies and gossipy TV shows; she's an excellent friend; and she can examine a suspect's room but has a hard time learning to ride a bike. This fast-paced book is pure pleasurable entertainment. Lucky us! THE ROSE QUEEN is number one in a series of Missing Persons mysteries from M.E. Rabb --- long may those Shattenberg sisters run.

   --- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon (terryms2001@yahoo.com)

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