The Thief Lord
Kevin Beach – VOYA
This German best-selling children's author creates a delightful tale that borrows a little from Oliver Twist and a bit from the magic of the Harry Potter books. A good-hearted private investigator is hired by a somewhat villainous couple to find their orphaned nephews. Fearing that the couple will separate them and actually only want them for their inheritance, the boys have run away to Venice, where they have the good fortune to fall amongst a tight group of street urchins, who often make ends meet through petty theft and cons. They live comfortably in an abandoned theater, benefactors of a mysterious masked boy who calls himself the Thief Lord. He often supplies them with food and expensive goods to hock. Life gets complicated when the children are hired by a sinister old man to retrieve a wooden wing from an old woman's home just as the investigator discovers the hideaway. What is the secret of the wing? Who is the old woman? All is resolved as the Thief Lord is unmasked, the boys outwit their aunt with the help of the PI, and the wing is restored to its mystical origins with some dire consequences. The magical city of Venice is used to full advantage. The characters are richly and realistically drawn-the good guys are not always good and the bad not really so bad. This satisfying, twisting tale is for upper elementary readers who enjoy a dab of magic surrounded by a charming story.