As the Sparks Fly Upward

Bernard Woodruff, author of the Mrs. Woolly books for tots, may look like a huge, amiable teddy bear, but he's actually an archetypal misanthrope. Except for his lovable, intelligent wife, Maya, he hates everyone, and that certainly includes Maya's handsome brother Snooky, who is also bright, wealthy, carefree and stubbornly unemployed. In this third Bernard-Snooky mystery, the unlikely sleuthing partners are visiting wintry Vermont, where the relatives of Snooky's current sweetheart begin dropping like flies. The mystery isn't hard to solve, but the puzzle isn't really the point. Dank, who began her writing career with the superior children's novel The Forest of App , has a genius for creating engaging, quirky characters and giving them marvelous lines. The payoff here is a funny, charming story, a literate, diverting escape. (Apr.)