Overview
The Scottish Highland Festival in Tennessee is all set to begin, but there's one problem: Duncan MacRae, founder of the games, has just been murdered. The police arrested Malcolm, Duncan's son, but is he really the killer? Horatio Wilkes, for one, has doubts.
Horatio is attending the festival with his childhood friend Mac, Mac's super-hot yet controlling girlfriend Beth, and geeky sidekick Banks. Once there, he quickly finds himself caught up in the cutthroat world of the Scottish games, where fair is foul and foul is fair . . . and his best friend may yet turn out to be his worst enemy.
Join Horatio as he navigates the sinister world of Shakespeare's Macbeth in this fun and clever follow-up to Something Rotten.
Editorials
VOYA -
Amateur gumshoe Horatio Wilkes, wunderkind of snooping and snark from Gratz's Hamlet redux, Something Rotten (Dial, 2007/VOYA December 2007), is back on the beat. Horatio stops to visit childhood pal Joseph "Mac" Mackenzie and Mac's cousin Banks at the Mount Birnam Scottish Highland Games. As soon as roadside psychic Madame Hecate tells Mac and his girlfriend Beth that Mac will be "king of the mountain," something wicked this way comes for those attending the festival. Games impresario Duncan dies from a slashed throat, leaving his son Malcolm as a suspect. Someone sabotages Banks's opportunity at a music scholarship. A malevolent piper band spreads mischief and mayhem in search of their next fix. As Horatio begins to investigate the murder, he discovers the benefits of a trained Border Collie named Spot, that the lust for a mountain makes people crazed, and that victory comes with sacrifices. Fans of Something Rotten will be pleased about the reunion with their favorite sleuth, but readers who disliked his barbs and popular culture references will find him just as annoying in this mystery. Better plot pacing makes this effort slightly more palatable than Horatio's previous investigatory outing. Much of the formula, however, remains unchanged: Horatio visits a friend; murder; Horatio mocks various Southerners with biting sarcasm; ecological statement; Horatio solves mystery. As an aside, Horatio makes so many derogatory comments about kilts that this reviewer wonders whether he is either a misogynist or homophobe. Buy this nonessential purchase only if there is reader demand. Reviewer: Angelica DelgadoKLIATT -
In this new take on Macbeth, clever, sardonic teenage detective Horatio, who we first met in Something Rotten, attends a Scottish Highland Festival on Birnam Mountain in Tennessee and finds the mountain's owner, Duncan MacRae, murdered in his tent. Duncan's son Mal looks like the obvious suspect, but Horatio has his doubts. For one thing, Horatio's ambitious friend Mac and Mac's controlling girlfriend, Beth, have fathers who want to turn the mountain into a country club and ski resort. There's also a fetching girl Horatio has his eyes on, and a gang of punks who call themselves Hell's Pipers. There's even a dog—named Spot. Replete with cell phones and up-to-date references (Dance Dance Revolution, Michael Vicks), this suspenseful mystery will work even for those unfamiliar with the Shakespeare play, and humor abounds as well. Fans of Horatio will be pleased to learn he has six sisters, with names like Viola and Juliet, so look out for more witty Shakespearean take-offs to come. Reviewer: Paula RohrlickSchool Library Journal
Gr 10 Up
Horatio Wilkes, the teen sleuth from Something Rotten (Dial, 2007), takes on another case in this contemporary reworking of Macbeth . He's attending a Scottish Highland Fair atop a mountain in Tennessee with his old buddy Mac, Mac's controlling girlfriend (named Beth, no less), and their families. Horatio doesn't like Beth, and his friendship with Mac becomes even more strained after a palm reader predicts that Mac will win the Highland decathlon and become "king of the mountain." When Mac's grandfather Duncan, the mountain's owner, is murdered, Horatio gradually discovers that Mac has slipped into madness and resorted to violence to make the prophecy come true. The insane obsession of Shakespeare's character doesn't translate well into modern times here because Mac's motives are weak, and the insanity they cause seems a bit of a stretch. Horatio talks and acts more like a 30-something P.I. than a teenager, and it's hard not to wonder where his parents are when he is severely beaten up and works with police to solve the murder. This story has some fun aspects, but the literary references will be lost on all but those well-versed in Macbeth . The narrative is riddled with sexual innuendo and smart-alecky metaphors that will soon become tiresome to even the most sarcastic teen readers.-Jake Pettit, Thompson Valley High School Library, Loveland, CO