Running Girl

Garvie Smith, unmotivated high school genius, and Raminder Singh, a Sikh detective inspector, make for an oddly matched but highly entertaining detecting duo in Mason’s darkly comic whodunit. Despite his enviable brain and test scores, Garvie, 16, has the worst grades at Marsh Academy—he’d rather skip class and smoke with his friends, to the consternation of his mother. Then his former girlfriend Chloe Dow, the popular girl who everyone seemed to dislike, is pulled dead from a local pond, strangled. It’s a headline-grabbing case for Singh, who methodically explores all avenues, from Chloe’s strained family life to her not-so-secret partying. Garvie pursues his own investigation: he’s positive that, like everything else in his life, Chloe’s death is simply one big puzzle waiting to be solved with logic and reason, despite Singh repeatedly telling him to keep out of police business. Mason (Moon Pie) grounds the story in reality as Garvie grows to better understand that actions have real and sometimes permanent consequences, seamlessly melding British teen drama with a believable and suspenseful plot full of well-executed twists. Ages 14–up. Agent: Anthony Goff, David Higham Associates. (Aug.)