Candy: brilliantly fun adventure in a town where sweets are illegal

“In a city where all chocolate and sweets have been banned, Nelle Faulkner is a 12-year-old private detective looking for her next client. So when notorious candy gangster Eddie de Menthe walks into her office (her dad’s garden shed) and asks her to find a missing teddy bear, Nelle takes the case. But as soon as the teddy turns up, Eddie himself goes missing. Can Nelle track them both down… before she comes to a sticky end?”

Candy tells the story of Nelle, a young detective who lives in a ciy where sweets have been forbidden. There’s definitely dealings with sweets going on. Nelle is asked by a client of her detective agency to track down a missing teddy bear. What is the relevance of this missing teddy bear? Why does she need to track it down? What does it have to do with the sweets? 

Imagine living in a city where sweets are banned. Not just chocolate, but ALL sweets. I don’t want to live there. I’m a fan of a sweet (sweets over chocolate for me pals!) Now, there’s definitely a black market situation going on in the town. There’s some turf wars going on. There’s dirty dealings and sabotage definitely happening between sweet sellers. I chuckled quite a lot at some of the scenes between rival sweet sellers. They’re like mini adults. Alongside all this there’s a missing chocolatier, some dirty dealings from government agencies and a fire. How is Nelle going to get to the bottom of all these goings on?

What I loved most about this book is that it was funny. As an adult, it’s so amazing to read kids books because they do GENUINELY make me laugh. The ridiculousness of the main character being a child detective, but that she was SO serious about her business made me chuckle. Along with the amazing main character, you have a book here filled with other brilliant characters and a plot that’s fast paced and will make you want to read on.

With a book about sweets, you’re going to get Charlie and the Chocolate Factory vibes. I loved that. Kids who read Roald Dahl will love this. Adults who read Roald Dahl as a child will also love this. You can’t get away from some of the similarities and spotting them for me was another total win. 

This book delivers a packet of fun with a sweet edge of a message – do the right thing, stand up to bullies and be a good friend. Nelle has to certainly overcome some things, but ultimately she’s a character who lots of kids will get along with.

Shout out to Mark Beech for that amazing cover and illustrations in this book too *heart eyes* the illustrations are just wonderful. They add SO much to the story!

Check out Lavie’s post from the blog tour all about his film noir inspirations behind the book – and check out Candy to see if you can see any of the shout outs to film noir! 

Have you read Candy?
What sweet would you miss the most if it were banned?
Do you think you’d be a good detective?

Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear your thoughts!

S x