Mickie McKinney is your average middle school pupil, worrying about exams and trying not to get in trouble with the teachers. What makes Mickie stand out is that he’s set himself up as a detective. If fellow students have lost their cat or want to discover a secret recipe from the school canteen, Mickie is the man. And he’ll take payment in lollypops and candy bars. When a new girl arrives at school and is immediately framed by the school bully for an exam paper heist, Mickie takes on the case to clear her name.
Opening with a terrific film noir gumshoe spoof narration as Mickie imagines his classroom is his private eye office, R.L. Fink’s MICKIE MCKINNEY: Boy Detective, The Case of the Absent Answers is a lot of fun. Fink’s prose is perfectly pitched creating a memorable, likeable character and instilling a great sense of place by skillfully introducing the school and the its small town setting by using its history as the subject for a class exam. McKinney always seems one step away from trouble though he has the best intentions. School bully Tommy Tubbins is merely an archetype, though no less entertaining for that, but the other major characters are more interesting. There’s the new girl, who is more than capable of handling herself, and Mickie’s brilliant scientist friend Burners, who is seemingly a one-girl CSI unit. By the end of this short novella there is the makings of an impressive new detecting team set for more adventures.
Though MICKIE MCKINNEY is decidedly old-fashioned in tone it doesn’t seem at all dated. The absence of cell phones and any reference to current popular culture suggests that the story is taking place in the past though it doesn’t feel particularly locked into any period. Even the handful of amusing black and white cartoon illustrations by Antony Wootten that punctuate the chapters give no real clue as to the time period of the action. The fact that it appears timeless is quite refreshing.
R.L. Fink’s MICKIE MCKINNEY: Boy Detective, The Case of the Absent Answers is a clever, fast-paced novella introducing a schoolboy private eye and setting the scene for further adventures. Frequently funny and easy to relate to, McKinney is a new character well worth investigating.
~Kent Lane for IndieReader