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THE SÉANCE Iain Lawrence Hardcover | Delacorte Books for Young Readers | 978-0-385-73375-5 | July 2008 | $15.99 | Ages 8-12 Hardcover Library Binding | Delacorte Books for Young Readers | 978-0-385-90392-9 | July 2008 | $18.99 | Ages 8-12

The 1920s was the age of the flapper, the speakeasy, and sensational headlines. Politicians, professional athletes, and notorious gangsters shared equal billing with famous mesmerists, mediums, magicians, and escape artists. Everyone was intrigued by mystery, violence, and the supernatural. Scooter King was a boy at the center of all the hype and hysteria, because his mother, “Madame King,” was a spirit medium. She held séances where she could crossover to the spiritual world and communicate with the dead—or so her customers thought. Scooter, however, knew the truth. You see, Scooter was the boy behind the curtain, the one pulling the strings to provide the illusion that his mom was speaking to the dead. Even though the séances were all an act, business is booming until the famous Harry Houdini comes to town. Houdini is on a mission to expose all mediums as fraud and to prove that their conversations with the dead are the result of cheap parlor tricks. As part of this campaign, Houdini confronts Viktor Valerian, another local medium. In the midst of all this turmoil, a real mystery evolves. A dead body is found inside the torture tank and Scooter becomes the prime suspect. Now that a true crime has been committed, Scooter has to use his skills in illusion to find Herman Day’s killer and clear his own name. Sergeant Summer is hot on the puzzling trail, but the real killer continues to evade capture. The sergeant wants someone behind bars, even if it is the wrong person. Was Houdini the target instead of Herman? Will Scooter King vanish as well? Read The Séance to find out.

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Prepared by Kifi Kanagy, Library Media Specialist, Greeley, Colorado

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