Book Review: Half Moon Investigations

Half-Moon Investigations
by Eoin Colfer

Genre: Adventure, Mystery, Young Adult
Publication: March 2006
Format: Hardcover, 290 pages

Fletcher Moon has never been like other kids. For one thing, he has had to suffer the humiliating nickname "Half Moon" because of his short stature. But the real reason Fletcher is different is that ever since he was a baby, he's had a nose for sniffing out mysteries. And after graduating at the top of his Internet class, he is officially certified as the youngest detective in the world. He even has a silver-plated detective's badge to prove it. Everything is going along fine until two things happen: a classmate hires him to solve a crime, and his prized badge is stolen. All signs point to the town's most notorious crime family, the Sharkeys. 

As Fletcher follows the clues, evidence of a conspiracy begins to emerge. But before he can crack the case, Fletcher finds himself framed for a serious crime. To clear his name, he will have to pair up with the unlikeliest of allies and go on the run from the authorities. Fletcher has twelve hours to find the guilty party--or he "is" the guilty party.

I'm a fan of the Artemis Foul books. When I found Half-Moon Investigations written by the same author, Eoin Colfer, I get excited. Plus, I’m also a fan of mystery. I figured that this is going to be a good book.

Fletcher Moon (or Half Moon) is a detective. He even got a silver-plated badge when he graduated in his internet class. When April Devereux, one of the girls in his school hired him to investigate the missing lock of a popstar’s hair, which April thinks was stolen from Red Sharkey, Fletcher accepted. Besides, Fletcher suspected that Red is also responsible of stealing his detective badge. This would be like killing two birds with one stone. But things started to go wrong when Fletcher was framed for arson. Now he has to team up with the Sharkey to find out the real criminal.

I didn’t expect much from Half Moon investigation since it is a light and well, innocent read. But I love the twist. I couldn’t guess what was going to happen, and who the real criminal really is. And it’s not that Eoin Colfer distract me with lots of suspicious characters in the book (or I was probably too slow to think of the character as suspicious).

I absolutely love the idea of how it started with a small case – to find a missing lock of popstar’s hair before it turns into something more dangerous. The development of the case and the mystery are interesting.