Jack Fair tries to find his missing aunt with the help of the famous director Alfred Hitchcock. Rife with allusions to Hitchcocks body of work (explained in the back matter), chapter-opening storyboard panels that foreshadow the action, and a wonderfully evoked 1950s San Francisco setting, this clever mystery is dogged by a leisurely paced plot.

An unclaimed fortune, kidnapping, suicide, poison, secret passageways, disguises, and duplicity! All this and more feature in 11-year-old Jack Fair's adventures at the Fairmont Hotel in 1950s San Francisco, his home since the death of his mother. Despite his lavish new surroundings, life for Jack is far from lush, as his days are spent as his Aunt Edith's personal servant. When he finds his aunt missing one evening and a ransom note in her place, Jack enlists the help of famed director Alfred Hitchcock, who happens to be staying next door. Events quickly unfold, taking the pair throughout the hotel and city in their search for clues, which begin pointing to crimes beyond mere kidnapping. Comics-style storyboards and a filmography keep a spotlight on film, and the author's note provides readers with historical context. The story is fast-paced with plenty of intrigue and suspense, though occasionally clarity suffers for the sake of another twist. Nevertheless, it remains a fun mystery that nods at the lighter side of Hitchcock.

Gr 5-8 In 1956 at the fabulous San Francisco Fairmont Hotel, 11-year-old Jack teams up with the famous movie director Alfred Hitchcock to uncover a plot involving drugged chocolates, mistaken identities, kidnapping, disguises, and close escapes. References to actual Hitchcock films and anecdotes abound throughout, in chapter headings, settings, and focused descriptions reminiscent of camera pan-ins. At one point, Averbeck even goes so far as to have the clever Jack create a scene in which Hitchcock makes a sort-of cameo appearance in costume, just as the real Hitchcock used to do in his films. Each chapter begins with a short storyboard of upcoming scenes. Although few of the intended readers for this book will have prior knowledge of the milieu, the pacing and length of scenes are right out of a 1950s Hitchcock film: slow and lingering on set pieces and build-up, broken with quick and cinematic action sequences. The back matter introduces many of the author's favorite Hitchcock films, as well as information about the real man and the real Fairmont Hotel. This is a fantastic introduction to the great filmmaker and to a 1950s sensibility of childhood and Hollywood. Unfortunately, its very nature as a long and slowly unravelling historical mystery will likely deter any but the most open-minded readers: try this with the Blue Balliett or Trenton Lee Stewart fan set. Rhona Campbell, Georgetown Day School, Washington, DC