Jane Louise Curry is one of those children's authors who's written a great many books in several genres but has never quite broken through into being well-known outside her field. She's probably best-known for her fantasy, but my very favorite of her books is this one.
Here's the thing: the Bird family in this book reminds me a lot of Madeleine L'Engle's Austins or Murry-O'Keefes. Professor Jeffrey Bird (the father, missing for most of the story) is a brilliant but slightly naive scientist. Mother Molly Bird is multi-competent and supportive, and the three offspring -- Perry, Mab, and Oriole -- are forces to be reckoned with in a variety of ways. And the plot of The Ice Ghosts Mystery runs very much in the same channels as The Arm of the Starfish or The Young Unicorns.
But Curry is not L'Engle, so the tone is a little different. Imagine the above-mentioned L'Engle books as if written by Diane Duane (the Birds are also not unlike the Rodriguez family from the Young Wizards books) or early L. J. Smith (see particularly the Hodges-Bradley clan from The Night of the Solstice). The result is a mystery that combines elements of a nifty SF thriller with a solid "family of sleuths" vibe -- fast-paced, crisply characterized, and as likeable as an enormous shaggy sheepdog. There should have been at least six of these...but there was only ever the one, darnit.
Regrettably, it doesn't seem to have a recent reissue (there was an iUniverse reprint at one point, but its status isn't any too clear at present). But it's not impossible to find print copies, and better/larger library systems may still have it available.
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branchandroot
The Ice Ghosts Mystery - Jane Louise Curry
Date: 2013-07-25 04:03 pm (UTC)Jane Louise Curry is one of those children's authors who's written a great many books in several genres but has never quite broken through into being well-known outside her field. She's probably best-known for her fantasy, but my very favorite of her books is this one.
Here's the thing: the Bird family in this book reminds me a lot of Madeleine L'Engle's Austins or Murry-O'Keefes. Professor Jeffrey Bird (the father, missing for most of the story) is a brilliant but slightly naive scientist. Mother Molly Bird is multi-competent and supportive, and the three offspring -- Perry, Mab, and Oriole -- are forces to be reckoned with in a variety of ways. And the plot of The Ice Ghosts Mystery runs very much in the same channels as The Arm of the Starfish or The Young Unicorns.
But Curry is not L'Engle, so the tone is a little different. Imagine the above-mentioned L'Engle books as if written by Diane Duane (the Birds are also not unlike the Rodriguez family from the Young Wizards books) or early L. J. Smith (see particularly the Hodges-Bradley clan from The Night of the Solstice). The result is a mystery that combines elements of a nifty SF thriller with a solid "family of sleuths" vibe -- fast-paced, crisply characterized, and as likeable as an enormous shaggy sheepdog. There should have been at least six of these...but there was only ever the one, darnit.
Regrettably, it doesn't seem to have a recent reissue (there was an iUniverse reprint at one point, but its status isn't any too clear at present). But it's not impossible to find print copies, and better/larger library systems may still have it available.