Garvie Smith spends most of his time staring into space until one of his classmates is murdered. He dated Chloe Dow briefly and didn't really like her much, but he feels the need to solve her murder. His mother has tried everything to get Garvie to take school seriously, but for Garvie, school is boring; however, the murder case has caught his interest. Detective Inspector Singh has been assigned to the case and he doesn't want Garvie involved, but Garvie is the only one who seems to be coming up with any leads. There are plenty of suspects, but everyone seems to have an alibi, so it's up to Garvie to find out what really happened.

Running Girl is labeled as a young adult mystery, but the only things that are young adult about the book are the characters. All of the themes and ideas involved are very adult; including, drug use, cigarette smoking, gambling, rape, and suicide. The mystery is very complex with many different clues and suspects, but the characters are not really well-developed. DI Singh is young and religiously devout, but that is all we really know about him. Garvie is intelligent and bored, but we don't ever get a sense of why he doesn't seem to care about anything until the murder. Overall, this is a well-plotted mystery, but not very enjoyable to read. ( )

Garvie Smith has a high IQ but he is bored with life, school and family. Then his ex-girlfriend's body is found and Garvie finds himself using his considerable powers of deduction to help the detective on the case, DI Singh whether he wants the help or not.

Great murder mystery for older readers set in the poorer areas of England with true to life scenarios, characters and language. ( )

1st of 2017! A slow-boiling mystery with a deliciously teen sleuth. As is usually the case with me & mysteries, I didn't love the slow pacing, the gradual coming together of clues, as much as a traditional mystery fan might. Plus, the whodunnit was not unpredictable — though the how was pretty cool. Still, the writing was great, with depth and insight, presenting characters of humor & resolve that kept pulling me in, despite myself. ( )

Really good read. Borrowed this as I liked the look of 'kid got shot' which local library service hasn't got yet, but they did have this. Mr Mason is potentially on to a winner here I think and I look forward to more Garvie Smith novels. I really want my son to read it.... ( )