THE BOXER AND THE SPY

This conventional mystery from the prolific adult author features standard villains with some spice thrown in by the boxing leitmotif. Despite an official conclusion of suicide, 15-year-old Terry remains sure that his shy friend Jason did not kill himself. Determined to uncover the real reason Jason died, he gets help from his almost-girlfriend Abby, who sets up a network of friends to spy on the typically arrogant adults who run the town and the school. Threatened by school bullies, Terry relies on his newfound boxing skills and his wise trainer George to get out of scrapes. The resolution relies on confessions, but one nice twist regarding a villain adds some interest at the end. Not much new here, but Parker provides some nice action scenes and whodunit clues. High-school intrigue written simply enough to satisfy budding mystery fans in the middle-school crowd as well. (Fiction. 10-16)