Tank & Fizz – The Case of the Missing Mage

Liam O'Donnell's The Case of the Missing Mage is a monster detective story for 8 year olds that sends a goblin and a troll into a tower full of wizards.

What happens

Fizz Marlow is a goblin who solves mysteries. Tank is his best friend and partner, a troll with a tool belt and a habit of pressing buttons she really shouldn't. They live in Slick City, under Rockfall Mountain, where everybody loves technology and nobody trusts magic.

It's Fungi Break (a whole week off school) when their elf friend Aleetha turns up upset. Her wizard teacher went off to count baby fire lizards and hasn't come back. Then a mysterious message tube arrives and destroys itself in a cloud of black smoke.

So it's off to the Mage District, where a bookshop door has been blasted off its hinges and the owner has vanished. Two hooded figures with skulls for faces are watching from an alley.

The best bit is getting into the Shadow Tower. Tank and Fizz have to sneak in dressed as trainee wizards, with Fizz's tail tucked into his belt. Inside there's a library where the armchairs float about and some of the books bite. Who wouldn't want a ride on a flying sofa?

Fizz tells it like a detective in an old film, and he's very funny. He'd rather be anywhere than near magic. He's quite sure someone is going to turn him into a slug.

He and Tank have a proper falling out too, when her button-pushing sends them both down a secret lift and out of the tower. The making up afterwards feels real.

There's a nice thread underneath about being scared of things you don't understand. Tank is scared of magic. The elves are scared of technology. Fizz is scared of maths (and makes no secret of it).

One thing to flag. The villains are quite creepy. Skull-faced wizards snatch people off the street through a magic doorway, and one of their victims is stuck in a ghost world where he could be trapped for good. If your reader likes a shiver, it's all part of the fun.

A few American school words crop up, like fourth grade and math, but they won't slow anyone down.

What to read next

This is Tank and Fizz's third case. If you'd like to meet them from the start, The Case of the Slime Stampede is where the school's cleaning slimes break loose and eat the principal's car.