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Shelby Belgarden #3
Chasing Shadows
At last, Shelby Belgarden has put her crime-solving behind her and has returned to the life of an ordinary teenager. Now 16, she has taken her first job: working at a new local restaurant called The Steak Place. But when one of her co-workers — a waitress named Nadine — goes missing, Shelby suspects foul play. The police won’t believe her. Neither will Shelby’s boyfriend, Greg, who grows frustrated with her search for a criminal who may not exist.
- GenresYoung Adult
216 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
2 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
About the author
Valerie Sherrard
38 books68 followersI was born in 1957 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and grew up in various parts of Canada. My dad was in the Air Force so the family moved often, and was sent to live in Lahr, West Germany, when I was eleven. It was there that a teacher encouraged me toward writing. I didn't rush into it, though. It wasn't until 2002 that my first book was released, but since then I've had several dozen books for young people published.
One reason I chose to write for children and teens was my experience in working with them. Over the years I fostered about 70 teens in my home, and I also worked as the Director of a group home for teens in my community for more than a decade.
One reason I chose to write for children and teens was my experience in working with them. Over the years I fostered about 70 teens in my home, and I also worked as the Director of a group home for teens in my community for more than a decade.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 1, 2021
Shelby Belgarden's sweet sixteen has come and gone, and with it comes a new step on her life path: her first job. Working as a gopher at a new local restaurant she befriends a co-worker named Nadine and is shocked when her friend suddenly quits without notice shortly after moving into a new building. The hunt is on, even if she's the only person in town who thinks something suspicious is going on.
Shelby was a delight to wander around with just for the novelty of being 16 and having to deal with traditional teenage situations. Her sweet-sixteen is thrown by a mother whose passion for balloons is adorable to her friends but hella embarrassing to her daughter, she gets her first job, wastes her day hanging out with her boyfriend, provides a shoulder to cry on for her best friend's dating troubles, etc. She's responsible, but also deeply thoughtful and determined to investigate her co-worker's disappearance even after the police find proof that she hasn't disappeared at all.
The side characters consist of her boyfriend, her best friend, and her best friend's boyfriend. The best friend and the other girl's boyfriend are going through some on-again-off-again troubles and are just around often enough to be useful. Shelby's boyfriend, Greg, is her driver since Shelby hasn't got a licence yet. He's a prominent feature in the book because of this, and he's likeable but not particularly remarkable. Exactly what the main character needs and not enough to take the attention away from her. Plus he's making a great impression as that level-headed cozy love interest who has a much better idea of when to go to the police than the main character does.
On the one hand it's a quick mystery that I would peg at being appropriate for middle school and older (nothing bloody, the detective is 16 and the situation and events are all teenage-specific, it's a missing person case instead of a murder mystery, no police jargon, set in present day, easy to read), but on the other hand when we find out what the plan was for the missing girl it gets dark really fast. Having them plot to kill her would have been more fitting to the tone of the story, but her ultimate destination is something more befitting an adult police procedural. It really isn't something you'd expect from a cozy.
But aside from that jarring revelation, was there anything else that makes me say it's better suited to a young audience? Why, yes. The missing girl's landlady gives away the plot. The elderly woman is a little batty and obsessed with Julia Andrews movies (ex. she mistakes Shelby for Mary Poppins) and she tells Shelby to ask Millie what happens to good goodie-girls. Anyone with any memory for Julie Andrews films (or someone with a healthy appreciation for Broadway musicals) should come up with Thoroughly Modern Millie .
And that would have been fine if she'd stopped there, but she pushed that Millie reference, and if other readers are like me they would have seen this and started matching the events of the book with the events of the film/musical and figured out exactly what happened to Nadine.
Look, either the old woman is sane enough to run an apartment building and calls the cops when she sees one of her tenants being kidnapped, or she's crazy enough to think she lives in a Julie Andrews movie and is too crazy to run an apartment building.
THE VERDICT? It's an easy to read, mostly preteen-friendly mystery that I recommend to that younger audience. The side characters aren't terribly interesting but they only show up exactly as much as they need to, and Shelby and Greg make a great standard cozy couple. But the number of new characters to suspect can be counted on one hand, and anyone in high school or higher would be able to figure out whodunit. I'm going to be looking into the first in this series, though, as it impressed me enough to give it another shot with a different plot.
Shelby was a delight to wander around with just for the novelty of being 16 and having to deal with traditional teenage situations. Her sweet-sixteen is thrown by a mother whose passion for balloons is adorable to her friends but hella embarrassing to her daughter, she gets her first job, wastes her day hanging out with her boyfriend, provides a shoulder to cry on for her best friend's dating troubles, etc. She's responsible, but also deeply thoughtful and determined to investigate her co-worker's disappearance even after the police find proof that she hasn't disappeared at all.
The side characters consist of her boyfriend, her best friend, and her best friend's boyfriend. The best friend and the other girl's boyfriend are going through some on-again-off-again troubles and are just around often enough to be useful. Shelby's boyfriend, Greg, is her driver since Shelby hasn't got a licence yet. He's a prominent feature in the book because of this, and he's likeable but not particularly remarkable. Exactly what the main character needs and not enough to take the attention away from her. Plus he's making a great impression as that level-headed cozy love interest who has a much better idea of when to go to the police than the main character does.
On the one hand it's a quick mystery that I would peg at being appropriate for middle school and older (nothing bloody, the detective is 16 and the situation and events are all teenage-specific, it's a missing person case instead of a murder mystery, no police jargon, set in present day, easy to read), but on the other hand when we find out what the plan was for the missing girl it gets dark really fast. Having them plot to kill her would have been more fitting to the tone of the story, but her ultimate destination is something more befitting an adult police procedural. It really isn't something you'd expect from a cozy.
But aside from that jarring revelation, was there anything else that makes me say it's better suited to a young audience? Why, yes. The missing girl's landlady gives away the plot. The elderly woman is a little batty and obsessed with Julia Andrews movies (ex. she mistakes Shelby for Mary Poppins) and she tells Shelby to ask Millie what happens to good goodie-girls. Anyone with any memory for Julie Andrews films (or someone with a healthy appreciation for Broadway musicals) should come up with Thoroughly Modern Millie .
And that would have been fine if she'd stopped there, but she pushed that Millie reference, and if other readers are like me they would have seen this and started matching the events of the book with the events of the film/musical and figured out exactly what happened to Nadine.
Look, either the old woman is sane enough to run an apartment building and calls the cops when she sees one of her tenants being kidnapped, or she's crazy enough to think she lives in a Julie Andrews movie and is too crazy to run an apartment building.
THE VERDICT? It's an easy to read, mostly preteen-friendly mystery that I recommend to that younger audience. The side characters aren't terribly interesting but they only show up exactly as much as they need to, and Shelby and Greg make a great standard cozy couple. But the number of new characters to suspect can be counted on one hand, and anyone in high school or higher would be able to figure out whodunit. I'm going to be looking into the first in this series, though, as it impressed me enough to give it another shot with a different plot.
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