The Night Raven (The Moonwind Mysteries)
Mika is a twelve-year-old orphan in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1880. She has never known life outside the orphanage. She doesn’t even know her own surname. Yet she and her friend Rufus have taken on the roles of carers and protectors of the younger children, roles that motivate them to investigate a series of threats and murders, as well as a mysterious baby who shows up one night. Mika has an eye for details, so when the police arrive to investigate, she offers to help Detective Hoff and his forces, who seem completely baffled and helpless. If they executed a serial killer, why are these deaths still happening? And what is Mika’s connection to the deaths—and to the frail baby now in part in her care? This book is the first volume in the popular Moonwind series in Sweden, featuring the young orphan who uses her fascination with details and her connections to aged-out orphans living on the streets, to solve crimes.
Over the past decades, dark Scandinavian mysteries, both historical and contemporary, have become popular, and The Night Raven brings the genre to a younger readership. Despite the gruesome deaths, the violence and threats, and the Dickensian urban setting, the descriptions and events are age appropriate, most of the violence off the page. At times, Mika seems a bit too wise beyond her years, an adult investigator in a child’s body. Nonetheless, middle-school-age historical mystery fans will appreciate the fast-moving story and intriguing setting, as well as the splashes of humor throughout.
