Danger in the Dark: A Houdini & Nate Mystery (Houdini and Nate Mysteries)
Grade 5-7–Lalicki, author ofSpellbinder: The Life of Harry Houdini(Holiday House, 2000), mines his vast knowledge of the magician for this first novel in the series. In the summer of 1911 in New York City, 13-year-old Nathaniel G. Makeworthy Fuller is working as a clerk's assistant in a Fifth Avenue hat store. He and his widowed mother live with his wealthy great-aunt. After Houdini buys a hat, leaving his calling card but no money, Nate is sent to the escape artist's home to present the bill. Houdini's wife befriends him, and he comes to trust her and her husband enough to share his concerns about the late-night séances that his aunt's new friend, David Douglas Trane, holds at her house. Working together, Houdini and Nate uncover Trane's scheme to convince Aunt Alice, through bogus exchanges with her late husband, to make him the beneficiary of her sizable estate. He is exposed, but not before Nate is knocked unconscious, kidnapped, and nearly murdered, and his mother drugged. Lalicki not only includes lots of information about Houdini, but also brings the period to life with many historical references. The author is a scrupulous researcher, and while the history integrated into the novel is interesting, at times it impedes the plot. However, readers who are fascinated by Houdini as well as those who enjoy a combination of mystery, adventure, and historical fiction, with a hefty dose of melodrama, will eagerly await the next installment.–Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, MECopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.