Oona wants to be a detective, not a wizard. Although she is Dark Street’s first natural-born magician in 200 years, she ought to be allowed to cultivate her other talents – as long as she doesn’t get permanently killed in the process.
As Wizard’s apprentice, Oona was learning spells needed to defend humankind if evil forces from Faerie realms attacked; even in the modern world of 1877, the Wizard must be ready. Dark Street lies in the heart of New York City, but ordinary humans rarely find this last corridor between the worlds of Man and Faerie.
But the Wizard’s disappearance, an increase in crimes along Dark Street, and an incompetent police inspector lead her to investigate many things – Why do only young witch girls venture out of Witch Hill? Who has stolen all of Madame Iree’s dresses? Is the blind actor a victim or a criminal?
A new apprentice must be selected since Oona wants to step away from that role, but which candidate will be chosen – witch girl, human young man, snooty Miss Iree, the clever brother? Something is wrong about all this…
Luckily, Oona has enchanted raven Deacon to tutor her in further magic and her own natural curiosity to lead her in detection. Are the criminals after something bigger than just designer dresses? Were her parents really killed by magic instead of an accident?
This first Oona Crate mystery places readers solidly into its 1877 setting and a very magical place indeed.
352 pages 978-1606841433 Ages 9-12
Other titles in the series: The Magician's Tower; The Magician's Dream
Recommended by Katy Manck, Librarian-at-Large (retired academic/corporate/school librarian), Gilmer, Texas, USA
+++++++++++++
Magical, mysterious, and delighful, The Wizard of Dark Street is a captivating read. For those readers who enjoyed Harry Potter and other wizarding books, Oona Crate is an appealing new wizard--but one who doesn't want to use magic. Oona, you see, would give it all up to be a detective and use her brains, her powers of deduction (nod to Sherlock Holmes), and clues to solve mysteries. Her uncle, the current Wizard of Dark Street, finally prints an ad in The New York Times for a new apprentice, since it appears his neice will never be able to take over his role.
Dark Street is a magical world the reader will fall in love with. A world just inside New York City yet invisible to most non-magical folk. The gates to the street only open for one minute each night at the stroke of midnight. Most children are fast asleep in their beds at that hour, and most adults would miss that minute. Even if they thought they saw something out of the corner of their eye, upon a second glance perhaps the gate would already close, and they'd think their eyes had played tricks on them.
Dark Street has always existed, "In one form or another it had always been there, a bridge between the fantastic and the ordinary, between magic and reason, between the Land of the Fay and the city that never sleeps."
Oona makes it her business to discover who stole all the designer dresses from Madame Iree's dress shop. The hopelessly bungling police detective Inspector White is laughable, and he sure doesn't want a little girl upstaging him, even if she is the neice of the reigning Wizard.
When her own uncle goes missing, Oona uses her wits and the help of her magical pet raven Deacon, an enchanted know-it-all who holds encyclopedic information about the history of the enchanted world and all its inhabitants, to solve the mystery.
Mystery fans and fans of magic will love the fantastic world of Dark Street. Strange characters abound along with skullduggery. The beautiful cover art will draw readers in, and the author's website is fantastic! Check it out here: https://www.thewizardofdarkstreet.com/home.html
352 pages
ISBN: 978-1606841433
Pamela Thompson, Library Media Specialist, Texas, USA
Visit Pamela’s ya novels blog at https://booksbypamelathompson.blogspot.com/
