by Rosalind Barden
Look for my REVIEW at the bottom of this post… and for a chance to win a copy of the book!
Sparky of Bunker Hill and the Cold Kid Case
by Rosalind Barden
December 13 – 19, 2018
Young Adult Mystery “with cozy qualities” (amateur detective + circle of characters that recur throughout the book).
About the Book
Sparky of Bunker Hill and the Cold Kid Case
Young Adult Mystery
Mystery & Horror, LLC (October 9, 2018)
Paperback: 216 pages
ISBN-10: 1949281027
ISBN-13: 978-1949281026
Digital ASIN: B07H49P46T
Lots of characters have it bad, in my Bunker Hill neighborhood smack dab in the middle of Los Angeles, but I’ve had it rougher than most.
There may be something to this 13th business.That’s my birthday, and I’m learning to dread seeing it roll around. My mother died on one birthday. The cousins dumped me on my last. This year, 1932, I found a dead kid on a park bench. It’s my eleventh birthday, and the day me, Sparky, ended up on the run, wanted for murder.
If the dead girl wasn’t enough, the dirty newspapers pinned every body in LA on me, and even blamed me for the Great War. I wasn’t even born then. The price on my head got bigger by the day.
It was up to me to find out who killed the girl and why I got framed, before I ended up dangling from the hangman’s rope.
About the Author
Over thirty of Rosalind Barden’s short stories have appeared in print anthologies and webzines, including the U.K.’s acclaimed Whispers of Wickedness. Mystery and Horror, LLC has included her stories in their anthologies History and Mystery, Oh My! (FAPA President’s Book Award Silver Medalist), Mardi Gras Murder, and four of the Strangely Funny series. Ellen Datlow selected her short story “Lion Friend” as a Best Horror of the Year Honorable Mention after it appeared in Cern Zoo, a British Fantasy Society nominee for best anthology, part of DF Lewis’ award-winning Nemonymous anthology series. TV Monster is her print children’s book that she wrote and illustrated. Her satirical literary novel American Witch is available as an e-book. In addition, her scripts, novel manuscripts, and short fiction have placed in numerous competitions, including the Writers’ Digest Screenplay Competition and the Shriekfast Film Festival. She lives in Los Angeles, California. Discover more at RosalindBarden.com
Author Links
Website – http://rosalindbarden.com/
Amazon Author Page – https://www.amazon.com/Rosalind-Barden/e/B001KDZ344/
Here is the schedule for this tour:
TOUR PARTICIPANTS
December 13 – Here’s How It Happened – REVIEW*
December 13 – StoreyBook Reviews – GUEST POST
December 14 – Babs Book Bistro – SPOTLIGHT
December 14 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
December 15 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
December 15 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW
December 16 – My Journey Back- The Journey Back – REVIEW*
December 17 – The Pulp and Mystery Shelf – GUEST POST
December 18 – Ruff Drafts – INTERVIEW
December 19 – Mallory Heart’s Cozies – REVIEW
December 19 – Varietats – GUEST POST
***MY REVIEW – 4 1/2 stars !!***
What a fun, exciting adventure book! Author Rosalind Barden lists Sparky of Bunker Hill and the Cold Kid Case as a “cozy” Young Adult Mystery, but I think Middle Grade kids would like it just fine. Barden has a unique voice, which is needed for her unusual main character, and it grabs you from page one.
Sparky is an agile, unafraid, street-wise orphan of about eleven years. She makes it just fine on her own in the age (1932) of gangsters, bookies, speakeasies, and club-swinging cops, until she makes a horrifying discovery early one morning. A tiny girl in a frilly dress has been murdered and left on a bench in Sparky’s favorite park. Our girl runs away from the gruesome scene, leaving her candy box behind – the candy box with her name written on it. Suddenly she is the main suspect in the murder and her name is blazoned across newspapers for weeks.
Sneaking under bushes, fences, and parked cars to escape from the cops, Sparky winds up taking refuge in a jungle-enclosed house with a “dragon lady,” who keeps leopards, and a fierce “goblin.” (You have to read the book!) She decides to hide there until she can get herself out of the jam she’s in, little knowing how her life is going to change.
The book has a vivid sense of time and place, with a backdrop of Hollywood just coming into the “talkies.” The story races at a fast clip from one amazing scene to another, making it a winner for kids. The squeaky clean story that somehow also reveals the corruption, brutality, and sleaze of the era, will appeal to adult readers as well.
You just can’t help loving Sparky and her way of thinking and talking. Hopefully there will be more adventures coming with this gutsy Bunker Hill kid.
Full Disclosure – I received a digital ARC of this book for review from the publisher
Thank you so much for a wonderful review! I am so glad you enjoyed the fun adventures in “Sparky of Bunker Hill and the Cold Kid Case,” with speakeasies, leopards, and the gutsy girl that Sparky is! It makes the writing process all worth it when a reader is happy! Rosalind Barden
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