The Inquisitor’s Apprentice

Adult SF writer Moriarty (Spin State) makes her children’s book debut with a fabulously imaginative historical fantasy. Set in an early 20th-century New York City where every ethnic group has its own magic—Jewish bakers sell “mother-in-latkes,” guaranteed to provide the perfect son-in-law—the story concerns 13-year-old Sacha Kessler, who discovers an ability to see magic and gets apprenticed to Maximillian Wolf, an Inquisitor specializing in solving magical crimes. Sacha is pleased to have a job, but his grandfather is an illegal Kabbalist and his Uncle Mordechai is a Trotskyite Anarcho-Wiccanist, so he has his secrets, too. Wolf, Sacha, and snooty Lily Astral (a fellow apprentice) are on the case when someone attempts to murder Thomas Edison using a dybbuk. Other figures, historical and not quite, become involved, including Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Houdini, and the wizard of Wall Street—James Pierpont Morgaunt. Moriarty’s novel is chock-full of period detail (both in the author’s confident prose and Geyer’s occasional pen-and-ink illustrations), feisty character dynamics, and a solid sense of humor. It’s a fascinating example of alternate history that leaves the door open for future mysteries. Ages 9–12. (Oct.)