Jon Agee

The Swift family reunion turns deadly while relatives search for Vile's Hoard, a treasure hidden somewhere on the grounds of the House. Young Shenanigan Swift, along with her sisters Phenomena and Felicity, and their cousin Erf, investigate the murders (attempted and actual), trying to ascertain motive and opportunity, and catch the killer before they strike again.

A little bit Addams Family, a little bit Clue, a little bit The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, and wholly satisfying, clever, and delightful, this twisty mystery is enhanced even more by Claire Powell's marvelous illustrations (some full-page, and one at the head of each chapter). Erf is nonbinary and chooses their own name; Fauna is trans. Shenanigan is Shenanigan.

See also: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

Quotes

[Shenanigan] has just the mix of stubbornness and curiosity that either rediscovered lost cities or landed a person in prison. (26)

When you are faced with a problem, it can be very difficult to admit that doing nothing might be just as good as doing something. (30)

"...just because two things seem connected, it doesn't mean they actually are." (41)

...translation can be a sort of treasure if words mean more to you than gold. (139)

While Phenomena, Shenanigan, and Erf had been in the library proving that Gumshoe's death wasn't an accident, Inheritance had been in the Evening Room, telling everyone that it was. (171)

[Daisy] was like a bouquet of flowers with a crowbar in the middle. (173)

She didn't care about all these "hows" or "whys" - only the "whos." She felt like an arrow in a bow. She needed to be pointed at a target, and let fly. (177)

She didn't lie, but she did act. The trick to acting was to find a bit of truth, and pull it around you like a raincoat until it covered your whole body. (190)

"A hunch is just your brain subconsciously taking in data and coming to a conclusion without you really being aware of it." (197)

"Sometimes it all feels a bit...inevitable." (216)

"There will always be people who think they know you better than you know yourself. But I quickly learned that they don't matter; the people who love you are the people who listen." (Fauna to Erf, 217)

Each of them was too upset to see the others properly. (249)

People often reasonably discuss such unreasonable things. (266)

Growing up happens whenever it wants to, in fits and starts and all over the place....Now she was grown-up enough to be afraid. (285)

Maybe the Naming was all rubbish, after all, she thought. Some people acted the way they were expected to, and some didn't....Shenanigan was who she was. (286-287)

From now on, Shenanigan would have to learn how to be afraid. And, most important of all, how to be afraid and keep going anyway. (299)… (mer)

This one crossed my desk, and I usually can't take the time to read every interesting book I see, I couldn't resist this one. A story written all in palindromes! It's a graphic novel, much of it wordless, but each panel that does contain words contains a palindrome. Sometimes they cross over panels. Otto, the title character, goes on an imaginative adventure in a bowl of wonton soup -- too many adventures to list here (though the cave where he encounters Eva and Don, with Don asking, "Eva, can I spit q-tips in a cave?" is pretty great). My favourite part is where he finds himself in a graveyard, and the epitaphs are priceless: "So, Ida, Adios!" "Del was awled" (with a picture of an awl), "Deidre, woman on a mower, died". Eventually, Otto makes it home to Mom and Dad and his dog, Pip, and a bird that says "Peep." Totally brilliant.… (mer)