P.K. PINKERTON AND THE PISTOL-PACKING WIDOWS

bookshelf

P.K. PINKERTON AND THE PISTOL-PACKING WIDOWS

Name: P.K. PINKERTON AND THE PISTOL-PACKING WIDOWS
Author: Caroline Lawrence
ISBN: 978-0-399-25635-6

From the P.K. Pinkerton series , Vol. 3

by Caroline Lawrence ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 6, 2014

No disguise can mask P.K. Pinkerton’s stout heart and steely resolve in Lawrence’s third (and mighty fine) Wild West...

bookshelf

Twelve-year-old half-Lakota “double-orphan” detective P.K. Pinkerton heads to Carson City in the third of the disarming Western Mysteries series.

The year is 1862, and news of P.K.’s private-eye prowess has spread through the Nevada Territory. A high-class Virginia City courtesan hires the detective to spy on her possibly unfaithful fiance, the very same Poker Face Jace who is P.K.’s beloved mentor. P.K. has what he calls a “Thorn,” difficulty showing or reading emotion; Jace has taught his protégé to read people’s “tells,” and not just around the poker table. As P.K. shadows Jace in Carson City, he thinks “Blind Widow Woman” will be his best disguise ever—until his “sock bosom” migrates north. (P.K.’s true gender is deliberately left iffy until the end.) Carson City is alive with gamblers and guns, drinkers and desperados…even a young Sam Clemens. The silver mines are humming, the railroad’s coming, and the colorful legislature wrangles the law. P.K.—the best kind of hero—navigates it all with unblinking acceptance of the salty characters he meets, straight-shooting honesty and impressive investigative work. The young detective’s dryly hilarious first-person accounts keep the story at a gallop.

No disguise can mask P.K. Pinkerton’s stout heart and steely resolve in Lawrence’s third (and mighty fine) Wild West adventure. (maps) (Historical fiction. 10-14)

Pub Date: March 6, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-399-25635-6

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S MYSTERY & THRILLER | CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
P.K. PINKERTON & THE PETRIFIED MAN
by Caroline Lawrence

- BOOK REVIEW
THE CASE OF THE DEADLY DESPERADOS
by Caroline Lawrence

- BOOK REVIEW
THE PIRATES OF POMPEII
by Caroline Lawrence

bookshelf

THE BLETCHLEY RIDDLE

by Ruta Sepetys & Steve Sheinkin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 8, 2024

A rich, enthralling historical mystery that engages and educates.

bookshelf

Siblings decode familial and wartime secrets in 1940 England.

Headstrong 14-year-old Lizzie Novis refuses to believe that her mother, a U.S. embassy clerk who was working in Poland, is dead. After fleeing from her grandmother—who’s attempting to bring her back to America—Lizzie locates her 19-year-old brother, Jakob, a Cambridge mathematician who’s stationed at the clandestine British intelligence site called Bletchley Park. Hiding from her grandmother’s estate steward, Lizzie becomes a messenger at Bletchley Park, ferrying letters across the grounds while Jakob attempts to both break the ciphers generated by the German Enigma machines and help his sister face the reality of their mother’s likely fate. With a suspicious MI5 agent inquiring about Mum and clues and codes piling up, the siblings, whose late father was “Polish Jewish British,” eventually decipher the truth. Shared narrative duties between the siblings effectively juxtapose the measured Jakob with the spirited Lizzie. Lizzie’s directness is repeatedly attributed to her being “half American,” which proves tiresome, but Jakob’s development from reserved to risk-tolerant provides welcome nuance. The authors introduce and carefully explain a variety of decoding methodologies, inspiring readers to attempt their own. A thoughtful and entertaining historical note identifies the key figures who appear in the book, such as Alan Turing, as well as the real-life bases for the fictional characters. Interspersed photos and images of ephemera help situate the narrative’s time period.

A rich, enthralling historical mystery that engages and educates. (Historical mystery. 10-14)