Date: January 11, 2026
Author: Peter Abrahams
Title: Down The Rabbit Hole
Genre: young adult YA, middle grade mystery
I plowed right through this book, following Ingrid on one whopping adventure!
Ingrid was a witty and wise 13-year-old, fully immersed in small town life and her extra curricular activities, which included being part of the town play; enacting Alice In Wonderland, and being part of the soccer team.
Where all the trouble came in was a hiccup in schedules, leaving Ingrid to be late for a soccer game, and all her driving family was nowhere to be found. There was a punishment involved with tardiness that she wanted to avoid. Knowing the soccer field was just down the way she decided to run over.
She got lost. And ended up on the other side of town asking Cracked-Up Katie (not her given name) for help. Katie brought her inside and called a cab to bring her to the soccer field. News later comes out that in the time after Ingrid left, Katie is murdered. Because Ingrid misses out on her chance to tell the police she had been in Katie’s house right before the murder, in a timely fashion, she has no choice but to start breaking a few laws so-as-to solve this case on her own, thus proving her innocence.
Before she could do anything else, though, she needed her cleats for soccer, and she had inadvertently forgot them at Katie’s house.
The problem was, the police had already taken pictures into evidence that included the red cleats. And they noticed their disappearance.
Also, while Ingrid was breaking in, so was someone else. So, quick as she could, she dove under the bed and held her breath. All she saw of the other intruder were his paint splattered Nikes.
Can Ingrid solve the case on her own as her hero Sherlock Holmes would do? Or once she’s ‘down the rabbit hole’ will she ever make it back out?