First published 2023
Stick Lawson lives on Hatteras Island, North Carolina, where she and her friends Rain and Neb call themselves the Dime Novel Kids. The twelve-year-old detective wants nothing more than a real paying case and the respect that would follow. Life on Hatteras moves at the pace of ocean tides, but World War II brings changes to their small island world. Strange newcomers arrive with unclear motives. Dangerous threats emerge from the waters surrounding their home. The war transforms their quiet coastal community into something far more perilous. Stick and the Dime Novel Kids suddenly find themselves facing actual mysteries instead of the made-up adventures they used to seek. The cases they discover carry real stakes that threaten everyone they care about. The young detectives must solve puzzles involving codes, spies, and double agents while navigating wartime dangers they never imagined.
Genres: historical-fiction, adventure, mystery, world-war-ii
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Hatteras Island, North Carolina
Period: World War II
384 pages · Paperback · Dial Books