LitPick Review
The Donaldson family is visited by yet another eccentric family member. This time it is Aunt Mary, their mom’s cousin. Mary is an artistic soul, but very rude to everyone. The only one who seems to care a bit that Aunt Mary is staying awhile with them, while she attends a local art restoration masterclass, is Isla because they are both artists. But when the girls see Aunt Mary drawing strange pictures, of course they’re curious to find out what they mean. And why are the pictures so strange?
Then there’s Tom Jennings, a relative of the local town brewery company, which is now permanently closed. He is in town trying to promote a beer he’s making in his micro-brewery. Unfortunately, everyone in town gets very sick from drinking it. Isla and Mae suspect that it was tampered with intentionally because someone knows he would like to buy back the land and vacant brewery, and they don’t want that happening. Could someone else want the land and building for themselves?
Opinion:
This is the fourth book in this entertaining children’s mystery series, and this book doesn’t disappoint. As in the previous books, we follow along with sisters Isla and Mae as they unravel clues to the mysteries that unfold within each story. Each girl strongly depends not only on their creative ability as Isla draws what she sees while Mae writes cryptic prose to what she discovers, but they also telepathically communicate between each other. I feel children will love not only seeing the girls’ creative talents, but they will also enjoy the special way they communicate with each other.
When Aunt Mary was introduced into this storyline, her eccentric ways made me know immediately that it must be another crazy cousin of the girls’ mom. She was just as rude and abrupt as Uncle Bill was in the previous story. When she arrived and imposed herself on the Donaldson family, I cringed for what would happen every time she was in a scene. She caused enough mayhem, which will make readers turn the pages to see what kind of chaos ensues.
As for Tom Jennings, I wasn’t really sure about him at first. I didn’t know if he would be a good or bad character, and I couldn’t wait to find out what happened to his microbrew that made the town folks get so sick. Plus, I eagerly wanted to see if the girls were right that someone intentionally sabotaged Tom’s brew for their own selfish needs.
Warren Cabral provides each storyline in this series with vivid details, allowing readers to feel as if they are right in each scene as it unfolds before them. I love that each book is unique and creative in the storyline from each other. In doing this, readers have a brand new reading experience each time they read a book in this series.
The illustrations done by Corryn Webb are uniformly done as in each previous book in this children’s mystery series. Readers will stop to look at the colorful illustrations she scattered throughout the book. Corryn is a Welsh freelancer illustrator and designer who is passionate about creating unique and eye-catching illustrations for children’s books. She has a vivid imagination and an eye for details.
Warren Cabral is an author of numerous plays, musicals, short stories, and now his full-length children’s novels. At the age of 16, he worked as a newspaper journalist. After a 30 year career as an attorney, he returned to writing and penned a short Christmas story for his two nieces. From there, this new children’s full-length series, The Lakeland Mysteries, was created.
Overall, The Mystery of the Chemic Tavern is another fun story readers can get lost in for a few hours. The characters are well-rounded, the storyline keeps you guessing until the end, and the illustrations perfectly complement the written storyline. Well done!
