The Magic Box, the first in a new series of mystery chapter books starring Max Monroe and his ghost of a great-uncle, is an easy to read chapter book for young readers. The story is broken down into several chapters, and each chapter is then split into smaller sub-sections, making it easy for kids to read in short segments. Black-and-white illustrations break up the text.

I liked the concept, of a ghost who's a hopeless detective solving cases with his clever great-nephew, better than the execution. The titles of the chapter sub-sections gave away plot elements before they occurred, and they were sometimes difficult to tell apart from the text itself, as they aren't numbered or separated from the text by any extra spacing. The plot itself was a bit overly simplistic and left me with a bunch of questions: Why hadn't Max ever heard of his grandfather's brother before? Why hadn't he ever seen or heard his great-uncle's ghost before? (We're given the impression Max has been to his grandfather's house before, but he doesn't know anything about his great-uncle.) How can the ghost hold a phone, wear clothes, eat food, and drive a motorcycle, but pass through walls and be invisible to everyone except Max? And what's with the dog?

The illustrations are a nice addition, though. They give more personality and depth to characters and events that otherwise fell a bit flat. The book's target audience, early independent readers, will probably still enjoy The Ghost and Max Monroe series, however, as it is an intriguing concept with some funny scenes and enjoyable artwork.

Note: I received a digital galley of this book through NetGalley. ( )