This is the 12th book in the Tom and Liz Austen mystery series, but it is a prequel: it goes back to Tom Austen’s first case, in which he discovers a sinister plot that begins with an abandoned house.

I am definitely not the target audience for this one, but I used to be (and read several books in the series as a youngster). This particular installment I hadn’t read before, so there was not much nostalgia to benefit from. I found Dietmar Oban to be one-note in his mocking of Tom (how on earth do they become friends in Cold Midnight in Vieux Québec?), and the teachers and other adults didn’t really speak like actual adults. (Also, some vocabulary words such as “heist” and “gumshoe” were explained somewhat obviously in dialogue.) Nevertheless, the story does move quite quickly, and younger readers may be more easily able to imagine themselves in Tom’s shoes. ( )

During a long, cold winter in his home town, young Tom Austen stumbles across some strange activity in an abandoned house. Through the snowy streets of Winnipeg, aboard the historic "Prairie Dog Central" and during a Ski-Doo chase beneath the Northern Lights, Tom unravels the secret of "The Golden Child" and in the process realizes that the safety of one of his friends depends on him.

"'All the ingredients are here for a 'good read' - fast-moving action, suspense . . . well drawn setting, likeable characters . . . and a cliffhanger endiing." The Ottawa Citizen ( )