Their ancestors wrote history books not fairy tales--as Sabrina and Daphne Grimm soon discover after arriving in Ferryport Landing, home to "Everafters" like Sheriff Hamstead, a now not-so-little pig. In fast-paced Detectives, the sisters encounter Jack (of Beanstalk fame) who's intent on reliving his glory days as a giant killer. Suspects is equally engaging but ends abruptly with "To be continued...."

In a second outing every bit as hilarious and scary as the first, Sabrina and Daphne, the two young descendants of Wilhelm Grimm, no sooner start school in Ferryport Landing than the murders of a teacher and the custodian catapult them into a new investigation. Well-populated by figures from their many-times-great grandpa's tales, plus the likes of Geppetto, Prince Charming and Puck—all of whom are magically confined to the small Hudson River town for their own protection, but don't much like it—the tale unfolds amid encounters with bullies, monsters and large quantities of slime. It involves wild rides through the air and other threats to life and limb, and culminates in a subterranean face-off with Rumpelstiltskin, a goblin with a creepy fondness for children who has partnered with the Pied Piper for an escape attempt. Buckley halts the action a little too often to fill in the back story, and his climax is awkwardly staged—but all of his characters glow with interesting nuances, as they did in the first episode, and he closes this one on a genuinely disturbing cliffhanger. Definitely not bedtime reading. Occasional technically finished illustrations. (Fantasy. 12-14)

Gr 4-6-In this second book in the series, Sabrina and Daphne continue their family's fairy-tale detective work in the Hudson River town of Ferryport Landing. The village has more than its share of "Everafters," a group of fairy-tale characters who escaped persecution in Europe by fleeing to America over 200 years ago. Here, the sisters start attending the local elementary school where the principal just happens to be the Pied Piper of Hamelin and Snow White is a most beloved teacher. Almost instantly, one of their teachers is found dead in his classroom, tied to the ceiling in a spider web. While investigating his murder, the girls uncover a devious plot and get closer to discovering the whereabouts of their missing parents. Free-spirited Daphne is a perfect foil for her older, grumpier sister, Sabrina, whose understandable anger over the loss of her parents is the main theme of this novel. There are as many references to frightening aspects of today's world as there are nods to folklore and sometimes both appear in the same sentence. While this mixing of sensibilities proves that fairy tales can be as dark as reality, it also occasionally trivializes truly upsetting modern problems such as nuclear weapons and child labor. The story is fast paced and the main characters are sympathetic and appealing. The abrupt ending will leave readers hungry for the next book in the series.-Kathleen Meulen, Blakely Elementary School, Bainbridge Island, WA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.