Running Girl

by Simon Mason

Overview

A smart, engaging murder mystery filled with unexpected twists and turns perfect for Sherlock and CSI fans.

Meet Garvie Smith. Highest IQ ever recorded at Marsh Academy. Lowest ever grades. What's the point? Life sucks. Nothing surprising ever happens.Until Chloe Dow's body is pulled from a pond. Garvie's ex-girlfriend. Inspector Singh is already on the case. Ambitious, uptight, methodical, he's determined to solve the mystery—and get promoted. He doesn't need any "assistance" from a notorious slacker. Or does he? Smart, stylish, and packed with twists and turns from start to finish, Running Girl introduces an unforgettable new character to the world of crime fiction—so lazy he'd only get out of bed for murder.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781338036435
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	08/30/2016
Sold by:	Scholastic, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	432
File size:	46 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Simon Mason has written both children's and adult books. His first adult novel, a black comedy entitled The Great English Nude, won a Betty Trask Award, and a book for children, Moon Pie, was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in the United Kingdom. Running Girl was the first in a new series starring Garvie Smith. Simon lives in Oxford, England, with his wife and their two children.

Read an Excerpt

"Garvie," his mother said, but mildly, "try to answer the inspector's questions.""What's the point? They're the wrong questions." He sat up and leaned forward, and looked directly at Singh. "How do you know she went jogging at all?""We know.""How?""She left a note.""How do you know she didn't just leave it to throw people like you off the scent?"Singh said nothing. But his face tightened.Garvie went on. "How do you know she left it? How do you know she left when you think she did? How do you know she didn't leave the note then change her mind?"Singh remained impassive, but a muscle jumped in his left cheek."They're the right sort of questions," Garvie said. "Seems to me."

Editorial Reviews

05/30/2016
Garvie Smith, unmotivated high school genius, and Raminder Singh, a Sikh detective inspector, make for an oddly matched but highly entertaining detecting duo in Mason’s darkly comic whodunit. Despite his enviable brain and test scores, Garvie, 16, has the worst grades at Marsh Academy—he’d rather skip class and smoke with his friends, to the consternation of his mother. Then his former girlfriend Chloe Dow, the popular girl who everyone seemed to dislike, is pulled dead from a local pond, strangled. It’s a headline-grabbing case for Singh, who methodically explores all avenues, from Chloe’s strained family life to her not-so-secret partying. Garvie pursues his own investigation: he’s positive that, like everything else in his life, Chloe’s death is simply one big puzzle waiting to be solved with logic and reason, despite Singh repeatedly telling him to keep out of police business. Mason (Moon Pie) grounds the story in reality as Garvie grows to better understand that actions have real and sometimes permanent consequences, seamlessly melding British teen drama with a believable and suspenseful plot full of well-executed twists. Ages 14–up. Agent: Anthony Goff, David Higham Associates. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Running GirlShortlisted for the Costa Children's Book Award"Highly entertaining . . . seamlessly melding British teen drama with a believable and suspenseful plot full of well-executed twists." —Publishers Weekly"Well-written and smoothly paced....Garvie is exceptionally well drawn....This hip urban revamp of the mystery genre will win over strong readers, especially those looking for diverse genre fiction." —School Libary Journal"If you love figuring out clues to challenging puzzles, you will love this book . . . Gone Girl meets Paper Towns." —Reviews Coming at YA (online)"Readers will like Garvie's quirkiness and ingenuity, and will be impressed with his detective skills." —VOYA"[A] satisfying whodunit." —Kirkus Reviews"There's never been a school-age sleuth quite like the excellent Garvie Smith." —Guardian (UK)"An engrossing detective story... tautly written, extremely pacy." —Telegraph (UK)"Sassily written... Compelling." —Sunday Times (UK)

From the Publisher

06/01/2016
Gr 9 Up—This sly British murder mystery weaves in elements of both hard-boiled detective tales (think Raymond Chandler) and buddy-cop mismatch (think 48 Hours). Garvie Smith is a whip-smart and drolly cool high school slacker who spends his free time mulling over mathematical riddles and solving imaginary crimes. When the town's difficult It Girl, Chloe Dow, is found murdered, Garvie applies his skills to solving a real-life homicide. As the teen's long-suffering Bajan mother hits the limit of her patience, Garvie forges a strained partnership with the detective on the case, an observant Sikh named Raminder Singh. Detective Singh has pressures of his own—this might be his last case if he can't solve this complex crime. The story leads Garvie into squatter shacks, dark underpasses, sleek casinos, and a fair bit of danger. The main strength of this well-written and smoothly paced novel is its diverse and believable male characters. Garvie is exceptionally well drawn—he is fully realized as the town's genius charmer—and Singh is similarly fleshed out as a crisp perfectionist wearing at the seams. One misstep is the female characters, who, perhaps because of the genre's tropes, rarely emerge beyond their pat characterizations as vixens, icy beauties, and pathetic housewives. VERDICT This hip urban revamp of the mystery genre will win over strong readers, especially those looking for diverse genre fiction.—Sara Scribner, Athens Academy, GA

School Library Journal

2016-05-04
Sherlock Holmes, if Holmes were a biracial, at-risk, 16-year-old slacker—a genius stoner who consorts with burglars and homeless dropouts.Garvie is many things: a math whiz and certified genius with a photographic memory; a layabout who rarely goes to class; a smartarse; "a rational thinker, precise and unsentimental." His friends call him Sherlock and Puzzle Boy. He's also the ex-boyfriend of Chloe Dow, a violet-eyed, busty, charismatic, unpopular—and now dead—blonde white girl. Chloe's murder knocks Garvie out of his bored semistupor. Despite his mother's threats to move the family to her native Barbados, Garvie throws himself into the investigation with all his reckless brilliance. Detective Inspector Singh, the Sikh police officer investigating Chloe's murder, is torn between exasperation and reluctant gratitude for the boy's Holmes-ian deductions. Garvie ponders seemingly unrelated clues—a black Porsche, a shopping list, ugly lime-green-and-orange running shoes—and puts together a disturbing story of victimization. Girls and women in Garvie's world seem mostly to be ineffectual, oversexed, or victims of violent and sexually predatory men. Meanwhile, though Garvie himself is a welcome mixed-race detective, several of the other characters are drawn with stale, albeit affectionate stereotypes.Paced like a television police procedural, with flashes of epiphany, false leads, and race-against-time dangers, this satisfying whodunit overcomes its characterization shortcomings. (Mystery. 13-15)

Kirkus Reviews