Oh my gosh, I rarely gush over the voice in a middle grade novel, but this was the BEST! We fell in love with Edmund's voice on the very first page and devoured this book. It's a bit older, published in 2015, but I'm gifting it to myself as a mentor text for my middle grade writing, it's that good.
Twelve-year-old Edmund just happens to be outside the ice cream shop, where his father broke the bad news that he's going to have to look for a new job and pull Edmund out of his beloved private school, Senate, when there's a call for help in a nearby alley.
His father responds, and Edmund hides under a bench, but he sees everything that happens next. Literally. He has an eidectic memory, or the ability to recall images with a high degree of accuracy after only a brief exposure to them. He can also draw them with stunning accuracy.
Which the New York Police Department, specifically Chief Williams, quickly discovers and recruits Edmund to the force. In return, he'll get paid enough to stay at his precious Senate school.
Edmund's paired with the gruff, skeptical Det. Bovano while staking out different places around town. He's asked to draw pictures of the people who pass by. But Bovano doesn't fill Edmund in on who he's looking for, so Edmund does a little snooping of his own, and discovers Bovano's in pursuit of an art heist gang, called the Picasso Gang.
He can't do it all on his own, and he makes a series of mistakes I won't detail becaue I don't want to spoi the mystery. But in the end, with help from his best friend, Jonah, the boys figure out where and when the next heist is to take place and thwart it.
This was a great mystery, and a series I look forward to reading more of in the new year! It will make a great gift, even if it has to be bought used (I'd love to see a new edition of this come out!). Enjoy!
