Degrees of Affection

This would have been a favorite series of mine if it had been around when I was younger. Agatha Mistery, a middle school age girl from England who wants to be a mystery writer, is a wonderful character who studies all sort of esoteric fields and remembers what she learns. Her butler, Chandler, reminds me of Butler from Artemis Fowl (partially because I was listening to that book while reading this one! But also because they are both big men who are called to go above and beyond their normal duties - and do so perfectly.) but with less guns and more humor. And her young cousin Dash (Dashiell) is studying at the Eye International Detective School - flunking all but Surveillance Technologies - with his latest exam sending him to Egypt. It's pass or get booted out and like always, he brings his ace in the hole - his cousin Agatha.

The book is simple and easy to read; I finished it in about 30 minutes, probably. But it was surprisingly fun as knowledge won over technology but tech was necessary and you learned something without ever really realizing it. I'll admit, I didn't like Dash very much; I found him lazy and willfully stupid. I hope he grows up in future books. Also, this isn't a mystery. It's set up like one but there were no real clues and the guilty person seemed picked at random. This was more of an adventure book, but quite fun and I have no real complaints. Boring it was not! It was, however, short! Even a handful of extra pages would have added to the story. It worked but you were left feeling you'd been given only half a real story.