Scoop McLaren: Detective Editor

Higgity Harbour is a tiny town, and it’s hard for Scoop McLaren to see why anyone would attack it. Yet someone is publishing the news before it happens – and that news is getting worse and worse. Somehow, the mysterious "Sonny Fink" can make every story of disaster and tragedy that he publishes in his online newspaper come true.

For Scoop, who has always wanted to be a detective editor, it is a challenge she can’t resist. Can she unmask Sonny Fink before he destroys her home town? And will her father ever believe she was born to be a journalist? 

Pitched somewhere between Nancy Drew and Scooby Doo, this is a light-hearted and fast-paced adventure mystery with a plot that follows all the steps of a classic detective story. While there is an old-fashioned feel to the story, it doesn’t ignore the modern world: Scoop nags her father, a traditional newspaper editor, to get some "digital presence", for example.

The book is a good in-between read for younger teenagers who don’t want to read romance or follow multi-strand plots, but still want a strong story with a determined heroine.