The Mystery in Flat 6B

Karen McCombie's The Mystery in Flat 6B is a short, warm mystery for 9 year olds about a boy who's told his grumpy new neighbour might be hiding a child.

What happens

JoJo is nearly twelve. His dad lost his job when the shop he managed closed, so they've had to move into a sixth-floor flat in a big block called Seaview Court. JoJo also has a twitch in his arm that started around the same time, and he'd really rather nobody noticed it.

On the stairs he meets Daria, who covers the grey walls in amazing chalk drawings. She has news. The old lady next door to JoJo, Mrs Malone, is keeping a little girl hidden in her flat. Daria has heard her!

Mrs Malone is certainly fierce. She calls Spike (JoJo's black-and-white pet rat, who looks like a tiny cow) vermin. She calls Daria's clouds vandalism. And then, through the wall, JoJo hears someone bashing at a piano and a girl's voice pleading.

JoJo tells the story himself, and it's very easy to get swept along with the detective work. Following a suspect round the mini-market, anyone? Checking her shopping basket for evidence? It's probably exactly what your reader would do too.

There's real feeling underneath. JoJo is grouchy about money, about leaving the only home he's known, and about the two best friends who teased him most about his arm. His dad is lovely, a bit hopeless with obvious stuff and trying really hard.

The twitch is handled kindly and matter-of-factly. It's a nice one for a child who has a tic of their own, or who has ever felt self-conscious about something they can't control.

It's a quick read that comes to a proper, satisfying end, and the answer to the mystery is a lovely surprise (no spoilers here!).

What to read next

A worried boy and a very strange new neighbour turn up in Wilf the Mighty Worrier Saves the World by Georgia Pritchett too. A moving truck pulls up next door to Wilf, and the man who moves in announces that he's an evil lunatic.