Half-Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer

From Barnes & Noble

His classmates have dubbed him Half Moon, but pint-sized or not, Fletcher Moon has a knack for sniffing out mysteries. Now armed with a badge as the world's youngest detective, he finds himself confronted with his most pressing case yet: If he can't find the culprit within 12 hours, he might have to take the rap himself! This is a hilarious, suspenseful detective story for boys and girls.

From the Publisher

Fletcher Moon has never been like other kids. For one thing, he has had to suffer the humiliating nickname "Half Moon" because of his short stature. But the real reason Fletcher is different is that ever since he was a baby, he's had a nose for sniffing out mysteries. And after graduating at the top of his Internet class, he is officially certified as the youngest detective in the world. He even has a silver-plated detective's badge to prove it. Everything is going along fine until two things happen: a classmate hires him to solve a crime, and his prized badge is stolen. All signs point to the town's most notorious crime family, the Sharkeys.

As Fletcher follows the clues, evidence of a conspiracy begins to emerge. But before he can crack the case, Fletcher finds himself framed for a serious crime. To clear his name, he will have to pair up with the unlikeliest of allies and go on the run from the authorities. Fletcher has twelve hours to find the guilty party—or he is the guilty party.

Child Magazine

Freshly graduated from an Internet detective academy, 12-year-old Fletcher Moon gets his first bona fide client: April Devereaux, the snobby "head of an entire tribe of Barbies." The case? Find out who stole April's most prized possession -- a lock of hair from a pop star. The plot thickens when Fletcher's badge is stolen and he's framed for a crime. Self-confident enough to poke fun at his own gumshoe geekiness ("After all, when you've come face-to-face with the dark side of the school yard, life doesn't hold many surprises"), Fletcher makes an utterly likable private eye. The hilarious ensemble of characters includes a gaggle of over-the-top, ultra-femme girls and a psycho principal who likes to draw mean pictures of her students. The razor-sharp wit of Colfer, the author of the Artemis Fowl series, will have young sleuths clamoring for more Half-Moon cases. (Ages 8 to 12)
Child magazine's Best Children's Book Awards 2006

Publishers Weekly

Both author and reader are certainly seasoned professionals: Colfer writes the popular Artemis Fowl series, and Reilly has worked steadily in films, television and on stage. But their joint effort here doesn't quite click. There's a coy, often overly cute (and possibly offensive) tone to the audio version of Colfer's story about a 12-year-old Irish lad named Fletcher Moon known as "Half Moon" by his classmates because of his short stature who earned the right to call himself a private detective (complete with a shiny badge) from a dubious academy on the Internet. It could be the fault of the dialogue, but Reilly makes many of the characters sound like "stage Irish" the sort of people Hollywood used to hire Barry Fitzgerald to play. And while part of Fletcher's charm is supposed to be his indifference to being the butt of his peers' jokes, he is too much of a nerd and rampant fantasist to gain listeners' sympathy. Ages 10-up. (May) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Michele Winship - VOYA

The newest addition to the "kid detective" genre is Colfer's twelve-year-old Fletcher Moon, who solved his first case from a playpen at three. Short for his age and smart beyond his years, Fletcher, using his father's birth certificate, has graduated at the top of his class from an Internet detective school, the youngest certified detective not only in the U.K., but in the whole world. Nicknamed "Half Moon" by the other kids, he is hired by one of Les Jeunes Estudiantes, a group of popular pink-clad girls, to find a missing lock of pop-star hair. There is more to the case than meets the eye, however, and not only does Fletcher cross the Sharkeys, the nastiest family in town, but he also becomes a victim and has only twelve hours to solve what turns out to be a string of crimes that puts him at the end of a finger pointing "guilty!" Witty, well-paced, and filled with colorful-literally-characters, this mystery by Artemis Fowl series author Colfer is sure to please middle-level readers, both fans of Artemis and those new to Colfer's work. No doubt, Fletcher Moon will be back again, sniffing out clues and tracking down criminals in many adventures to come. VOYA CODES: 4Q 4P M J (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2006, Hyperion, 304p., Ages 11 to 15.

School Library Journal

Gr 4-7-Diminutive Fletcher Moon may not be the most popular 12-year-old in his Irish town but he's proud-maybe a little too proud-of the badge that he constantly flashes to let everyone know that he's an online graduate of a private detective academy in Washington, DC. The other kids admit that Fletcher, aka "Half Moon," has solved several tough cases at Saint Jerome's Elementary and Middle School, so they come to him when they have a problem. But when super all-in-pink girly-girl April Devereux hires him to find a lock of a pop star's hair that she claims was stolen by one of the Sharkeys-a family of well-known criminals-everything starts going wrong for Fletcher. His precious badge is taken, he finds a single huge footprint at every crime scene, and he's picked up by the local police for arson when the Devereux playhouse burns down. When Fletcher goes on the run, who becomes his number-one ally? Young Red Sharkey. A typically funny Colfer offering without the mania of the "Artemis Fowl" series (Hyperion), the story wittily delivers the message that some people aren't-for good or ill-who they appear to be. Kids who enjoy comic mysteries will have a great time with Half Moon, and the conclusion drops plenty of hints that this could become a series.-Walter Minkel, New York Public Library Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Combine Sam Spade's manner, Encyclopedia Brown's curiosity and Columbo's deductive tenacity-that's Fletcher Moon, kid crime-solver. Never mind that he's only 12-Half Moon (he's short) is a real detective with an official badge from the Bob Bernstein Academy to prove it. When classmate April Devereux hires him to find her missing lock of pop star's hair, the case gets tangled in her all-girls' club, the snarkey Sharkey family notorious for thievery and talent-show contestants at St. Jerome's school. With unlikely ally, Red Sharkey, Fletcher follows clues that point to some kind of weird conspiracy, but he's forced undercover when someone tries to frame him for the crimes. Mystery-solving readers will ignore the European words-euros for dollars, guards for cops, cola flagon-to smugly sidestep red-haired herrings, giggle over Fletcher's disguise and grin deviously when the cast of suspects line up on stage for the grand inquisition. Half Moon is full-fledged fun and a sure-fire booktalk: Just describe Moon's eight-year-old, snot-nosed snitch who always has green yo-yo's hanging from his nostrils that he snorts in and out. A sub-theme of "information is power" is cleverly embedded in the fast-paced romp, while the ending leaves a trail for future investigations. (Fiction. 10-14)First printing of 250,000; $200,000 ad/promo

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