The Monkey Island Murder: A Sparky of Bunker Hill Mystery by Rosalind Barden – Review by Roxsanne Lesieur.

The Monkey Island Murder: A Sparky of Bunker Hill Mystery by Rosalind Barden
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sparky is back and has just experienced the worst day of her life! It all starts with having to go back to school, something she absolutely hates, especially because she has to have a bath every morning, wear clean clothes and worst of all, she has to wear shoes! However, having her breakfast and lunch made by Gilbert (who makes the most amazing sandwiches and desserts) is a partially redeeming aspects. On this particular day, she is in trouble at school before classes have even really started and so she has to go to the principal’s office, she gets teased by the older kids and she can’t spend time with her friends, so to take her mind off of it, she decides to go see her boss, Bookie.

Bookie isn’t his usual self though and Sparky isn’t sure what to make of it, especially when he suggests going to Monkey Island, a tourist attraction in downtown LA and as different to Bunker Hill as can be, and on top of that, he buys her ice cream! The monkeys however, are ratty and smelly, they are also loud and obnoxious, but she is meant to keeping an eye on be keeping an eye on Bookie who is talking to some unsavoury looking characters, so when Sparky looks round to see where he is, she is confronted by him running out of a dark passageway, looking pale and someone pointing a finger and shouting “MURDERER!” but Sparky knows that can’t be right, so when Bookie tries to run, he ends up on the roof instead and the only way down is with a trip to prison.

Sparky decides to investigate, but instead gets into more trouble and has to volunteer at the police station after school, so she fetches and carries and looks after Officer Bun Bun, the precincts resident rabbit! This is just what Sparky needs, school, then the cop shop and then just to top it all off, at home Tootsie and Gilbert are preparing Mademoiselle for her biggest audition to date! Can Sparky juggle all these balls while investigating the murder so that she can free Bookie and not ruining the audition? This is another tangled mystery where Sparky considers all her options, no matter how awful they may be to free her friend and survive everything else in this fast-paced race to solve the Monkey Island Murder.

Reviewed by @roxsannel

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