From School Library Journal
Grades 5-8--Once again, P. C. and his friend Mackenzie stumble into a murder and onto the murderer. When their nasty calculus teacher at Columbia University is pinned to the blackboard with an arrow shot from a crossbow, the two friends begin to investigate their eclectic collection of classmates. Some attend the college, but others, like Mac and P. C., are high school students taking advanced classes. A visit to a medieval weaponry collector's makeshift torture chamber, a careening taxi ride across New York City, and the final, hair-raising chase through the darkened halls of the university add excitement to this basic whodunit. The audience for this book is a little unclear. The main characters are juniors and are appropriately pictured (if a bit unrealistically perfect) on the cover, but the book design and story are clearly for younger students. The plot is simplistic and is of the cookie-cutter variety. Upper-elementary-school fans of series mysteries should enjoy it and perhaps reluctant readers in the upper grades would also find it appealing, but they may take issue with the large paperback format.
Lynn Evarts, Sauk Prairie High School, Prairie du Sac, WICopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Gr. 5-7.
When aptly named calculus teacher Professor Dunaway is found pinned to her chalkboard by a crossbow bolt, amateur sleuth P. C. Hawke and sidekick Mackenzie Riggs, already in a "freakazoid frame of mind," find themselves up against both a clever killer and an obtuse police lieutenant with zero sense of fashion. Zindel's plot won't hold water for a moment, but he piles on suspects and red herrings, sends Hawke and Mac from the Bronx to JFK Airport hunting clues, throws in an embezzlement scheme to further muddy the waters, and brings the investigation to a suspenseful climax with a wild, spooky chase through an unlit classroom building basement. P. C. narrates, but Mac has an equal and active role in this helter-skelter whodunit, aimed at Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew grads.
John PetersCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
