The Curse of Shipwreck Bottom by Wayne Madsen, a Mysterious Review.

Review: Jake and his sister Alexa head off on another misadventure on the other side of the magnifying glass in The Curse of Shipwreck Bottom, the third mystery in this series for 9- to 11-year-old readers by Wayne Madsen.

While playing a game of Go Fish (but of course), the magnifying glass comes alive with the image of Cap'n Snappy, who relates to the young detectives a tale of the battle between the evil sea witch Jezebel and King Neptune for control of the kingdom of Atlantis. After Jezebel captured Atlantis and banished it into a magical seashell, King Neptune captured her, trapping her in another seashell. Pirates are now searching for Jezebel's shell to release her, and together gain control of the Seven Seas. But Cap'n Snappy needs help stopping them and pleads with Inspector Moustachio and his investigative team to join him and his crew to save the world from the evil that lies at Earth's End.

The Curse of Shipwreck Bottom, like the earlier books in this series, have a Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland style (and appeal) to them. Jake (Inspector Moustachio) and Alexa (Inspector Girl), together with their cat Rex (critter detective) and guinea pig Sandy (pet detective in training), meet a number of imaginative and unusual people and creatures (they're really one and the same on the other side of the magnifying glass) on their journey to Earth's End. Like him or love him, and there's probably little reader emotion in-between, Rex is frequently the center of attention. His "We're doooooooomed", a typical response to any given situation, gets a little tiresome, though.

The plot of The Curse of Shipwreck Bottom is straight-forward though the path taken is somewhat serpentine; younger readers may have a hard time following some of the action. The riddles the team must solve add interest to their quest. In the end, Jake knows a bit more about the mystery behind the magnifying glass but realizes he has much to learn. Fortunately he'll have another chance to expand his knowledge in the next book in the series, The Secret of the Pharoah's Feline; Rex ought to really be in his element here!

Acknowledgment: Community Press provided a copy of The Curse of Shipwreck Bottom for this review.

The Curse of Shipwreck Bottom

The Misadventures of Inspector Moustachio by Wayne Madsen