Brief

A passionate young paper girl teams up with a detective to solve not only one but two murder cases that happen in her paper route. Her determination to prove a falsely accused man's innocence sets off a chain of events that brings multiple stories to life.

What We Liked

The attraction towards kids and murder mystery was a fun take. Jackie was intriguing as a character to follow along with. Even through her personal trials and tribulations, Jackie never backs down from a good murder mystery. Regardless of circumstances, detective Dahm and Jackie teamed to solve cases.

Film: Due to its low budget, the story could also be made as a TV movie, perhaps for streaming with sequel potentials. With young audience, it can be viewed at home and enjoyed as a leisure family bonding experience.

TV: The book can be made into a series with hopes of having multiple seasons, as the main character Jackie disappears at the end. The mystery, crime, and family drama aspect of it is very compelling to watch.

Key points: Low Budget; Murder mystery; Young children as audience; Proving a man's innocence; Justice

Synopsis

Jackie is part of a big family. Her mother, Marguerite, is now pregnant with a third child. Jackie has an older brother named Raymond, and she wishes to have a sister. Marguerite’s mother, who they call Mémère, has her two sisters visiting. Mémère calls upon Jackie to greet her great aunts. Aunt Blanche then gives Jackie a silver dollar, and asks if she would like to come and stay with her and Pappy, her undertaker partner, for a while, to which Jackie agrees. Jackie then proceeds to go and pack, and finds her mother laying down, resting.

On their way to aunt Blanche’s house, which she shares with Pappy, Jackie reminisces about her time with her family. Upon arriving, Jackie notices that the ground floor is where the funeral home that Pappy owns is. The second floor is Blanche and Pappy’s home, and the top floor is occupied by a gay couple, which she is told to stay away from.

On the day Jackie is to return home from Blanche’s, her great aunt reveals the news that Jackie now has a baby brother to go home to. She falls in love with baby Moe and takes care of him all summer. As soon as school starts, Jackie starts to concentrate on her classes and Penguin Man, a strange tall man that has been creeping around the neighborhood. She spends late nights spying on him, and keeping tabs. After a couple of non-eventful weeks, the newspaper headlines show a murder case that frames the Penguin Man, AKA Mr. Plouffe. Jackie, however, believes that Mr. Plouffe is innocent of this crime.

Jackie goes to the police station to speak with Detective Dahm, who is in charge of Coutu's murder case. Hoping to prove his innocence, Jackie delivers her surveillance journal to Detective Dahm.

In a twist, Detective Dahm arrests widow Adele Coutu for the murder of David Coutu. However, both Dahm and Adele know that she did not murder her husband. Dahm awaits for Adele to confess everything anyway. When Dahm goes to visit Adele in prison, he shows her the guest check he had found in Old Man Coutu’s suitcase, in which it was clear that David Coutu had shot himself. Dahm had to tell Adele that the gun he had procured was from a poker game won against his father, and that it was given to his father by Louise Boisvert, Coutu's mistress.

A year after the Coutu case is closed, the Bancroft-Libby case reopens as Jackie and Detective Dahm comes across a familiar face from Jackie's visit to Blanche's house.

About The Author

Hailing from Kerouac's hometown, the author is an imperfect believer, wife, mother, grandmother and failed vegan. She has made a good living writing commercial newsletters and marketing collateral for a high-tech company headquartered in Tel Aviv. Born writer; re-born novelist.