Janie's Private Eyes

8 year old genius Janie Stanley fancies herself a detective. When dogs in town start turning up missing, and her new Vietnamese friends are blamed, Janie ropes David, Amanda, David's friend Pete and the twins into investigating. Despite the eventual dog-nappers being pretty easily telegraphed right from the beginning, it is still entertaining to read about the Stanley kids capers. I just realized that the three sequels to The Headless Cupid are not nearly as supernatural as it was, but even though that was my favorite thing about said novel, you don't really miss that element. I would really like to know more about Blair and how he just knows things (and, it seems silly for the other characters to still be dismissing his comments and premonitions even though he's proven right over and over). Unfortunately, this is the last Stanley family book. I suppose it's still possible for Snyder to write more; even though she's 85 years old, she's still writing excellent children's books. ( )