The Case of the Time-Capsule Bandit

The Case of the Time-Capsule Bandit by Octavia Spencer

Randi Rhodes is proud of her sleuthing that she employed as a detective in her Brooklyn neighborhood. Unfortunately, case number thirty-two is her last. Her father is moving the family - Randi and himself - to Deer Creek, Tennessee. From the hustle and bustle urban life to country living in a resort town. The biggest news is the celebration of Founders' Day and the opening of the 200 year old time-capsule. But boring small-town life quickly turns exciting when the historic time-capsule goes missing and strange secret service agents are swarming the town. Randi needs to dust off her detective skills and get to work!

The Case of the Time-Capsule Bandit is the first Randi Rhodes mystery in the Randi Rhodes series. An untitled book number two is coming out in Fall of 2014.

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I was so thrilled to receive an audiobook copy to review! Ms. Spencer brings so much energy to her movies, as well as, her narration from the audiobook, "The Help". I was vastly looking forward to hearing her voice again.

My first reaction to her audio was slight disappointment. Her narration was flatter than I thought it would be, but I need to step back from my castles in the air and listen to reality. She's reading a story, not putting on a play or movie. It's a fine reading! She's dynamic and gives her characters different voices and remains consistent throughout the book. At one point I did think she was showing off when she had so many different cultural characters in her story, but the location of her story is in a resort town. A resort brings in people from all over the area, so a wide variety of citizen (temporary or permanent) is natural. My favorite character was the cantankerous old man who is accused of stealing the time-capsule.

All in all, it's an easy-listen story. The mystery is fun and suspenseful. The town is small-town America where everyone knows everyone. Readers who like mysteries (or ninjas) will enjoy this book. If a young reader is going through a move, this could be a good story for them. I would recommend this book to tween readers (roughly, 4th-6th graders). I am interested to see what adventure Ms. Spencer creates for the next installment of Randi Rhodes Ninja Detective.

Reviewed from an Audiobook Jukebox copy. Thank you, Simon & Schuster Audio! The opinions are my own and no monetary compensation was offered to me for my review.


Audio Book Details...
The Case of the Time-Capsule Bandit by Octavia Spencer
Series: Book 1, Randi Rhodes Ninja Detective
Read by Octavia Spencer
Produced by Simon & Schuster Audio
Number of Discs: 4
Total Time: 4 hours, 27 minutes
ISBN: 9781442364264