The Fantastic Phantasmic Detective Agency: And the Rebel Realm by D.L. Dugger

The Fantastic Phantasmic Detective Agency: And the Rebel Realm is the first delightful installment in the paranormal fiction series for middle-grade readers by D.L. Dugger.

Billy, Toby and Abby, twelve-year-old sleuths of The Fantastic Phantasmic Detective Agency, help a ghost called Mary find her cherished locket but in pursuing its disappearance, the friends soon find themselves locked in a mortuary run by a shady mortician. After escaping and returning the locket to her, a grateful Mary informs them that her friend needs help finding her missing brother. The three seek the help of a crabby medium, unaware that he’s made a deal with an UnderWorld bounty hunter to also find the missing brother…

Dugger’s prose is unaffected and direct, which lends itself nicely to her targeted age group. Billy, Toby and Abby are likeable and resourceful, relying on their wits to get themselves out of difficult situations. The plotting is well-paced, with plenty of twists to keep things interesting, but what makes the story particularly engaging is its grand sense of adventure and the solid camaraderie between the three protagonists.

Highly imaginative and downright entertaining, The Fantastic Phantasmic Detective Agency: And the Rebel Realm is a great start to the series.

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