Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator

GILDA JOYCE, PSYCHIC INVESTIGATOR: Jennifer Allison: Sleuth/Dutton: Young Adult: 321 pgs

Thirteen year old Gilda Joyce lives in Michigan with her mother and older brother. Her father passed away two years earlier from cancer and Gilda misses him a lot. At the end of the school year, all of her classmates are discussing their exciting summer plans. All Gilda has planned is to spy on “plaid pants,” the man that works at Gas Mart. However, when questioned by her teacher, Gilda feels pressured to invent an elaborate summer vacation. She says that she is going to write a novel in San Francisco. Now that she’s made up this story, she is determined to go through with it. So she writes a letter inviting herself to her distant relatives’ home. Lester and Juliet Splinter live in an old mansion that Juliet believes that it is haunted by her late aunt Melanie. Gilda jumps at the chance for adventure and the opportunity to use her psychic skills. She has been learning how to be a psychic from reading a garage sale copy of, The Master Psychic’s Handbook: A Guide to Psychic Principles and Methods by Balthazar Frobenius. As the girls unravel the mystery of what happened to Melanie, they become friends and have a delightful summer together.

I think younger teens will enjoy Gilda’s eccentric personality and the mystery contained in this novel. Gilda does use what she thinks are psychic impressions to help determine how and why Melanie died. Gilda is able to cheer Juliet up as she feels lonely living in the big mansion with only her father and Melanie’s ghost for companions. This book is suspenseful and hilarious.