For the fast-approaching month of October, I have a creepy mystery for all those who want to get ready for Halloween. Of course, this is not a tale exclusive to the Halloween season. It just fits in rather well. Cold Case is Julia Platt Leonard’s first novel, and a doozy at that. I grew up a fan of Nancy Drew novels, with a few Hardy Boys thrown in to the mix for good measure. Cold Case is a little like Hardy Boys on steroids. When Oz Keiller finds a dead body in the freezer at his family’s restaurant, the 13-year-old  sets out to find the killer and clear his brother’s name. It’s a fast-paced murder mystery, without the proverbial ‘colloquialisms’ so to speak that are common to the formulaic mysteries I grew up on.

Oz, first off, is not a typical middle-upper class, white american, with a housekeeper and his own car. He’s the youngest son of a French-American widow, drives a bicycle around town and works to help run the family restaurant, Chez Isabelle. While his mom is off in France caring for their ailing grandmother, Oz and his older brother Dave have to deal with the scariest most intense period of their lives. I enjoyed reading Cold Case- it brought back so many memories of the good old days. If you like mysteries and you’re not too creeped out by dead bodies and blood, you will be impressed with Julia Platt Leonard’s work.

*Thanks Julia for the review copy of your book!

*Disclosure: I received a review copy of this novel, but my apologies to Julia. I wrote this and it got buried in my drafts pile instead of published long ago. Hopefully, it’s not too late to get the word out!