Twenty-four-year-old Stephanie's life isn't in a rut exactly, but it's not headed where she'd like it to be.
Stephanie manages a clothing store and lives with her mother in the townhouse where she grew up. At her mother's suggestion, she joins a community choir. Soon she's singing rock songs in four-part harmony and has met a completely new group of people, including Anna Rai, a local TV personality. When Anna's private journal goes missing, she confides in Stephanie that she feels terribly vulnerable. What if the notebook falls into the wrong hands and her secrets are made public? She hints that such revelations could be devastating to her and other public figures. When a blackmailer demands cash in exchange for the notebook, the two women lay a trap to snare the crook. But will Stephanie use or abuse the information she now has?
This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for older teen readers and adults who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read!
Kim Moritsugu is the author of four previous novels. The Glenwood Treasure (2003) was shortlisted for the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel. She also leads a walking tour for Heritage Toronto, teaches creative writing at the Humber School for Writers, writes a food blog called The Hungry Novelist and sings in a community rock/pop choir.
"Mortisugu's characters are genuine and believable. The reader won't be able to help cheering on the characters in their quest to find the notebook and solve "The Mystery of the Missing Notebook." Even with the book's having an ending too perfect to be true, readers will share the joy of success with Stephanie and Anna. Recommended."
"[I] read the first few sentences. That's all it took, and I was hooked. This book was quick and easy to read, but strangely gripping from the first page."
"Even in this short work, we get to inhabit the quite witty viewpoint of a young woman named Stephanie...Moritsugu's characters are always so wonderfully flawed."