Saturday, January 17, 2015

Gretel and the Case of the Missing Frog Prints: A Brothers Grimm Mystery by P. J. Brackston

I've read more than one version of Hansel and Gretel but I've never found one where she was a private detective.  Now I have!

Pegasus and Edelweiss gave me the opportunity to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published tomorrow, so check for it the next time you visit your local bookstore.

This author has a sense of humor.  Gretel loves food, especially sweets.  She has the figure to attest to that.  The only one fatter than she is her brother, Hans.  She's successfully solved one case, so she's happy to be presented with another.  The bad part is that the messenger dies in her hallway after delivering it.  The local kingsman wants to arrest her for murder.  He knows she didn't do it but he's mad about the earlier case.  What Gretel does is sneak off before they can arrest her...

Gretel talks to her client, stays with Hans and his friend Wolfie, meets a couple of hobgoblins and even visits with a mouse.  She even stumbles into a brothel and has to think of an excuse to stay there.  I liked how inventive she got with her proposed "job" and managed to keep herself from being ravaged.  All of these odd creatures, including the humans, are connected to the theft.  

There's a sausage contest, she gets to wear the princess' diamonds, she has a new love interest (that she always manages to look stupid around), and she even recovers the lost prints.  

This is part fairy tale, part farce, and fun to read.  I enjoyed this mystery and will watch for another in this series.

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