Book Review: The Case of the Tiffany Killer by A. R. Rampa
Disclosure: I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it.
Peggy Hart is the best-dressed and most curious teenage girl in Pinewood, a lovely small town that’s probably in Ohio. She’s put her curiosity to good use as a girl detective. But lately, her cases have been getting more and more sordid, and now there’s a killer that abducts teenage girls and returns bits of them in decorative gift boxes.
Can Peggy and her best friend Pickles find the culprit before one of them becomes the target? And does this case tie into what became of Peggy’s brother Philly, missing this past year?
This is a National Novel Writing Month book, written over the course of a single November (but presumably polished afterwards.) It’s a spoof of teen detective books, especially Nancy Drew. I’d say it’s more like the recent Nancy Drew film, depicting the main character as slightly out of place in a modern milieu.
The first couple of chapters are anachronic, which is kind of confusing, but the book soon settles down to a more linear storytelling style. There remains a bit of an issue with the narration switching point of view between paragraphs without warning. There’s also a few spellchecker typos, two on one page being unusual enough words to catch my attention.
Good stuff: The characters really feel like they’re using coping methods, and not always healthy ones, to control what feels like out of control circumstances. Peggy’s rigid standards for clothing herself, for example. There’s also some good descriptions that give color to the scenes.
Not so good: The spoof elements and the morbid plotline really don’t work well together. Treating it as more of a straight up mystery story might have been a better choice. You might be able to guess the killer by genre savviness, but there isn’t really a fair play mystery here. One plot thread remains dangling at the end; sequel hook, except that this is more of an “end of series” story.
This book was written in consultation with eighth graders, so is presumably a young adult book, but the gruesome subject matter (trigger warning for torture) may make it a poor choice for the lower age end of YA.
This might do well with fans of Nancy Drew pastiches.
