Rosalind Barden brings us the mystery of a young street rat named Sparky in her YA Mystery, Sparky of Bunker Hill and the Cold Case Kid. Sparky’s life is never the same again after her discovery of the dead girl on the bench. This book is a must-read for any mystery fans out there.
- Title: Sparky of Bunker Hill and the Cold Kid Case
- Author: Rosalind Barden
- Publisher: Mystery and Horror, LLC
- Genre: YA Mystery
- Pages: 212
- Format: Kindle Edition
- Rating: 5/5
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Lots of characters have it bad, in my Bunker Hill neighborhood smack dab in the middle of Los Angeles, but I’ve had it rougher than most.
There may be something to this 13th business.
That’s my birthday, and I’m learning to dread seeing it roll around. My mother died on one birthday. The cousins dumped me on my last. This year, 1932, I found a dead kid on a park bench. It’s my eleventh birthday, and the day me, Sparky, ended up on the run, wanted for murder.
If the dead girl wasn’t enough, the dirty newspapers pinned every body in LA on me, and even blamed me for the Great War. I wasn’t even born then. The price on my head got bigger by the day.
It was up to me to find out who killed the girl and why I got framed, before I ended up dangling from the hangman’s rope.
My Review of Sparky of Bunker Hill and the Cold Kid Case:
Barden takes us on a journey through the Bunker Hill area of Los Angeles during the Great Depression. Her vision of the area brings to life in an excellent description of the city. Everything, from the rose thorns to the barbed wire, is told through the eyes of Sparky and her tramp-like ways. The setting is perfect for this book. I felt as though I was right there in those old cellars with Sparky.
The characters are as fantastic as the setting. Sparky, being a street kid, is not used to people caring about her. But, what she doesn’t know is that she had a lot of people who watched out for her. It takes her a long time to trust that these people do indeed care for her.
This story is lovely, and I have so many good things to say about it. However, it did tend to drag a little bit. Though I think it is just because I was so caught up in the action that I kept wanting to skip ahead to see what was going to happen next. I was utterly caught up in the action of the story.
I am happy to award Sparky of Bunker Hill and the Cold Kid Case a full 5 out of 5 stars. In my opinion, middle graders and older will fall in love with Sparky and her crazy cast of characters. I know I did.
If you would like to pick up a copy for yourself, you can purchase it on Amazon.com. If you use my special link in the image below, I earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.
This sounds interesting Kimberly. Must have a look at this. Thanks for posting x
Thanks Caroline!