The Ruby Raven

Finnegan Zwake #3

by Michael Dahl

When his uncle is nominated for a prestigious award, Finn joins him on a trip to Morocco for the ceremony, but foul play begins to dog their steps and threaten their lives

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Fiction, Childrens

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 1999

About the author

Michael Dahl is the author of over 200 books for children and young adults, including the acclaimed Finnegan Zwake mystery series and The Library of Doom. His works have earned Edgar and Anthony Award nominations and national design honors. As Editorial Director at Stone Arch Books, he champions engaging, award-winning stories that inspire young readers everywhere.

He also writes under aliases Chris Carey, Rick Thomas, and Mark Ziegler.

Reviews

[Watchdogg · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Ruby Raven by Michael Dahl
First published in 1999

GR Thumbnail -
When his uncle is nominated for a prestigious award, Finn joins him on a trip to Morocco for the ceremony, but foul play begins to dog their steps and threaten their lives.

My thoughts -
Mysteries are my favorite genre, but this book left me flat. Not to say that there isn't a modicum of mystery within the pages, but for me this book was closer to speculative fiction. Also, in order for me to enjoy a mystery the story has to be plausible and in that respect this tale fell woefully short.

The attempts at humor left me rolling my eyes. For example - the main setting is in fictional Occo (between Less Occo and Morocco in Africa's Saharan Desert. Two of the characters are Nada Kloo and Ms. Trafalgar Squeer. See what I mean?

So, only two stars from this fella; meaning, near good - less than average.

[Linda C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finn and his Uncle Stoppard are invited to Occo (between Less Occo and Morocco in Africa, :D) for the award ceremony for the Ruby Raven, an award for the best mystery of the year. Uncle Stoppard has written a mystery that conceives Hamlet as a murder mystery with Ophelia as detective. They meet up with the other finalists at the Hotel in Fuz but during the lead up to the ceremony and while sight seeing several deaths occur. Finn, a young reporter named Abou, and Uncle Stoppard try to figure out who the murderer is. Fun YA mystery but with some outlandish humor thrown in.

[Abbi Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is my favorite of the series, which is weird since I don't like the desert :P

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finn (Finnegan) Zwake lives with his Uncle Stoppard because his parents (archeologists) went missing while on an expedition in Iceland. Uncle Stoppard is a well-known mystery writer. His latest book, a re-imagining of Hamlet with Ophelia as an amateur detective has won the notice of Mr. Ravencroft, the sponsor of the coveted Ruby Raven award. He and several others are among the finalists for the prestigious prize. The Ruby Raven is better than the Edgar or the Dagger or the Shamus...it comes with a hefty million in cold, hard cash. Even the runners-up get a bit of pocket money--sharing another million equally among themselves. The only catch? The finalists must be alive and well and present at the ceremony to win. And that's not going to be as easy as it sounds.

Ravencroft lives in the middle of the Sahara desert and this year's ceremony is set to take place at his home. There is a perilous bus trip in their future...but will they even stay alive long enough to board the bus? One of their number is squashed by a pillar while on a sight-seeing trip before heading into the sand. Another has disappeared. When the remaining authors venture out on the bus trip, they're caught in a sandstorm and forced to take shelter in an old Foreign Legion prison. Will any of them make it out alive? Finn's uncle goes missing, but Finn is certain he's still among the living. They search the place up and down and in and out and can't find a trace. Finn teams up with Abou, a young reporter, to try and solve the mystery before killer eliminates all the competition.

This is a fun, fairly blood-thirsty (for a young adult story) mystery with way more literary puns than necessary--including Finn's full name. But I can forgive the punning tendency when there's a clever mystery plot to solve. I totally lost track of two clues that would have helped me with the motive behind the incidents, so kudos to Dahl for pulling the wool over my eyes. I was charmed by young Finn and now I'm tempted to go hunting for the next book in the series to see if he finds his parents. Or at least finds out what really happened to them. ★★★ & 1/2.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting portions of review. Thanks.

[Dalton Sizemore · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book from my childhood that I never finished, but I felt the desire to finish it a few days ago. While obviously written for and marketed to children, I enjoyed the little book very much. The story is fast-paced, and is a mystery that logically checks out by the end of the book. There are some stretches of logic that the author asks you to accept, but they’re mainly minor and could be plausible even if unlikely.

I very much enjoyed this story, and honestly believe it would make a great TV limited series especially if they juiced the characters and story up to be marketed toward adults. My only complaint is that we didn’t get more time to explore the side characters, but it’s a book written for children so I get it.

4/5 Stars

[Greg]

Good enough for a random $2 find I suppose

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

THis was a pretty cute book. Finn's uncle Stoppard has been nominated for a prestigious award called the Ruby Raven for his mysetry featurign Ophelia as a detective in a fictious rendering of Hamlet. But even before they leave the country strange things are happening.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This mystery seems to be a parody of Boys' Own adventure type stories, as a kid helps his heroic mystery writer uncle have adventures and solve mysteries. It tries a little too hard to be funny, as every other sentence seems to be some kind of pun.

Still, pretty entertaining.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is beyond amazing! How this author thought up all the little jokes along the way I will never know!

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A middle-of-the-road cozy mystery: A teen accompanies his uncle to an elite mystery-writers award presentation in North Africa. People die and the clues stack up.

[Carmen Brown]

it is a really good book and I never guessed the killer through the entire book.