INTO THE DARK

In the third title in the Echo Falls Mystery series, intrepid 13-year-old sleuth Ingrid Levin-Hill grapples with not only a mystery but a family crisis: Her beloved Grampy is accused of murdering the local conservation agent, and there’s strong circumstantial evidence against him. Things aren’t helped by his secretiveness about personal business and his refusal to discuss secrets from the past that could exonerate him. In her own slow but steady way, Ingrid eventually unmasks the killer and uncovers Grampy’s—and some townspeople’s—secrets, some hidden for decades. The hallmark of this series is the author’s revealing of clues to readers ahead of Ingrid. This is fun, but it can be a flaw, too, because readers paying attention figure out some details before Ingrid does so that some of her epiphanies aren’t surprises. There’s some excitement and enjoyment with the mystery and the growing bond between Ingrid and crush Joey, but this installment seems tired, especially compared with Down the Rabbit Hole (2005), the first and best in the series. (Fiction. 10-13)