My attachment to Zenta and Matsuso, the two ronin detectives in Lensey Namioka’s series brought me to Village of the Vampire Cat, the fourth in the series. Tea ceremony, New Year traditions, and missing girls. Serafina’s Promise is a novel in verse set in Haiti, where life is hard. Her family scrabbles for the barest necessities, and tragedy strikes. Resilience and love are certainly themes, but a sobering read. And my read-through of Jenny Nimmo’s series (which is technically called The Children of the Red King even though I tend to call it the Charlie Bone series) continues apace. Charlie Bone and the Shadow is the penultimate title (6 of 7).
C. J. Milbrandt 