The Littlest Detective in Paris by Suzy Brownlee

May 2010, Prospera Publishing
206 pages, Paperback
Review copy

Children's

Cushions: 4
Pencils 4
Smiles: 5
Tissues: 2
Nayuleska's recommended rating:

Book cover blurb:

Desperate to find her missing mummy, Clemmy is less than impressed to find herself far, far away from London in Paris. But things take an interesting turn when she meets Freddy Le Fromage, who might just know a thing or two about the Commonovs and their connection to their mother. 


Meanwhile, Hench is as useless as ever, Mrs Mac actually stops eating (for a moment, at least), and Origami Pete reveals a rather horrifying secret. 

Kooky Cool crosses the Channel! As a huge fan of the first adventure when Clemmy is in London, I was champing at the bit for this latest installment in the series. I think the book was made more exciting by knowing how much was at stake. Plus the idea that the phrase 'Kooky cool' making the rounds in Paris was pretty cool.

I'm afraid that Clemmy still doesn't get to meet her mother. But she starts to get closer to her. More about Clemmy's mother is revealed throughout the book. I had a few theories about her mother in the first book, theories which seem to be becoming more likely as the story unfolds.

Clemmy once again gets herself into trouble. She may be on foreign soil, but she's as determined as ever to solve the mysteries in her life. No matter the obstacle, she keeps on trying. Clemmy has few resources, but she gets some help from Freddy. I have a feeling he may help out some more in future books.

Clemmy does pretty well with the resources she has. In some ways she does better than her enemy Natasha. Natasha has everything - money, henchmen. But that is little use when the henchmen are incompetent! Planning a jail break takes a lot of work, work which manages to cross ties with Clemmy. It provided a lot of laughter for me as I read the book.

One of the most surprising plots comes from Origami Pete. I felt so sorry for him, what he has to put up with from his family situation. In some ways that was as scary as Clemmy trying to avoid Natasha! And that's saying something. His situation did have me laughing an awful lot thought - I felt bad for him as I laughed, but the situation was funny.

I only have one small minor grumble about the book. I prefer the cover for the first book, and the original concept cover art for this one. When reading the book, I thought something was strange. About half way through, I sought out the first book, and compared the two. A different artist is used for the illustrations inside. This isn't a negative point for the book, just a personal preference.

Overall this is as good as the first book. More information about each of the characters are revealed. So too are more clues revealed about Clemmy's mother's disappearance. It isn't as simple as I initially believed it to be.

Make sure you've read the first book, The Littlest Detective in London, and check out the books both on Prosper Publishing's website and dedicated Littlest Detective website. I'm looking forward to the next books in this 'Kooky cool' series!