| Half Moon Investigations | |
|---|---|
 First edition cover |
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| Author | Eoin Colfer |
| Cover artist | Art done by Mark Riedy, Designed by Ellice M. Lee |
| Country | United States (first edition) |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Mystery novel |
| Publisher | Miramax Books |
| Publication date | March 2006 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 290 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-7862-9362-4 (first edition, hardback) |
| OCLC Number | 80910252 |
Half Moon Investigations is a novel by the Irish author Eoin Colfer. It was first published in United States in March 2006 and was released in the UK and Ireland on 1 June 2006, and the paperback edition was released in the UK 5 July 2007. It has also been adapted as a television series, aired on the BBC from January 2009.
Contents |
Plot summary
Fletcher Moon is a natural born investigator. Knowing this, April, a girl from his school comes to him for help in finding a lock of hair that she believes been stolen. Fletcher agrees to help her and starts off by investigating all suspects which eventually get him threatened by a thirteen year old named Red Sharkey. Fletcher holds Red as a prime suspect due to his family's criminal reputation. Fletcher then looks up the Sharkey family’s criminal records by hacking police files, leading him to discover a series of unsolved crimes that have occurred in his county. He hears something outside that night and when he went to check it out, he was assaulted by a hurley stick and knocked unconscious. Upon awakening, he notices an engraved band on the stick that just happened to have Red’s name on it was pressed into his flesh. Fletcher then goes to visit April’s cousin May to photograph this newfound evidence but ends up at the wrong house where he catches sight of somebody catching fire to May’s lucky dancing costume. He passes out in the yard due to the anesthetic from the hospital and later awakens to find a torch in his hand and all evidence for the arson pointing to him. Following an interrogation by the police, Fletcher is bailed out by Red Sharkey. Red claims he was framed for the hurley stick assault. Half-Moon and Red team up to solve the chain of mysteries within 24 hours. Following a hunch to April's house, the boy detectives discover the truth behind Les Jeunes Etudiantes, the girls club, their true goal being to overpower boys. Three recent expulsions can be attributed to these girls, and the boys feel they need to be stopped. Unfortunately, the girls are not fools, and they manage to imprison the boys in the cellar. A very clever plan led them to escape, only to discover that May, the girl they felt they could trust betrayed them. Fletcher and Red previously heard the girls practicing the lines that they planned to use in their accusation of Red. Red is able to send a text message to the present police officer informing him of the lines they would use. The police officer puts two and two together and exposes the girls for the liars they are, and Herod Sharkey is found innocent, saving him from expulsion. Fletcher knows that this still does not solve the mysteries that included his assault so he meets a secret informant, and in exchange for the password of the police account he hacked earlier in the story, receives the information that he desired. He finds that the link between the crimes ended up being the upcoming talent show at his school and it turns out that the victims each had a part in the show in some way. After trying to protect May from becoming involved with the criminal Fletcher at last finds the answer he had been looking for all along. All the victims of these crimes had been ranked higher than May in the talent show. To save his daughter from the humiliation, May's father Gregor steps forward as the perpetrator. Fletcher's mother shows her strength as it seems May's father might be unwilling to accept his defeat; she comes to her son's rescue and knocks the man to the ground. Sergeant Murt, the involved officer finally declares the mysteries to be solved. (C. Carmack 11th Grade Book Report Summary)
Critical reception
Newsround called the book "really exciting" and said "Once you've read page one you'll be hooked".[1]
Trivia
- In the book Murt mentions an Art Fowler, this is a reference to the protagonist of Colfer's most famous series Artemis Fowl.
The term "A thin line between bold and bad." is also used in The Wishlist
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
A 13 part BBC television series was filmed in Scotland over the summer months of 2008, directed by Simon Hynd. The first episode replaced Grange Hill on 5 January 2009.[2] In this story line, Red Sharkey helps Moon solve mysteries, April Devereux's group is called the Pinks and Moon and Red are assisted by an investigative journalist (Mia).
References
- ^ "Book Review: Half Moon Investigations". Newsround. BBC. 11.9.07. http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6240000/newsid_6249700/6249734.stm. Retrieved 8.1.09.
- ^ BBC site
External links
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