Buzz Kill

There are enough mysteries about high school without adding murder to the list. When Millie stumbles upon a body, she becomes embroiled in murder mystery she never wanted to be in the middle of in the first place... especially because the victim had direct ties to her father. In Beth Fantaskey's Buzz Kill, the sleuthing rivals Nancy Drew!Millie Ostermeyer lives with her father. She loves her father, but as the Assistant Coach of a big high school football team, his time is generally consumed by the goings-on of the sport. She has worried about him since her mother passed away, but he isn't exactly an open book, so she gives him his space. When her father's nemesis, the head Coach Killdare, is found dead on campus, Millie is not only traumatized since she was the one who found the body- she is worried that all the signs point to her father as being the one with real motive to do away with the jerky head coach.Millie's unlikely partner-in-crime, the new and mysterious football star who doesn't seem to fit the mold of typical high school star athlete, helps her to uncover some of the secrets Killdare kept from everyone around him. The further she digs, the clearer it becomes that this murder is more mysterious than she ever thought it could be. Unfortunately, her father is still in the crosshairs of both the local police department and Millie's own nemesis, her arch-enemy on the school paper, is hellbent on making her father look guilty. She has to get to the bottom of the story and quickly if she has any hope of saving her father's reputation... and keeping him out of jail!I loved Fantaskey's Jessica series. I hated the cover, and I thought the title was a total cheese-fest, but the characters were really fun and unique, and I loved the story itself! I mean, laugh-out-loud kind of awesomeness! So, I was thrilled to see her come out with something that had a great premise, a good title, and a far better cover (although it does feel a little hokey). But, my experience with her writing said I was going to like this story, and I really did! I have to say, however, it was certainly a little campy at times, and I think the campiest parts were with Millie. She was less unique than the characters in the Jessica series, and a little more of a "type," but I still liked her. Chase, however, was my favorite part of this story. There was a boy with a past that I couldn't wait to learn about. He did not fit any stereotype, and I was intrigued from the moment Millie laid eyes on him. Even Millie's dad and Killdare were great characters. She just wasn't as awesome for me as they were, which was a little hard since the book was about her!The good part was the plot and the pacing was a lot of fun. It was just mysterious enough to hold your attention without being silly or too predictable. There was a lot at stake for Millie, and she took her job of sleuthing very, very seriously. In fact, you are going to see some references to Nancy Drew, which I appreciated because it pointed out the elephant in the room. Everything about the story felt very Nancy Drew, so it was important to acknowledge that fact rather than pretend it didn't exist. Overall, this book continues my love for Fantaskey, even though Millie wasn't my favorite character ever, and I will keep an eye out for this author's next project!

I've been eagerly waiting for a new Fantaskey book since finding her delightful Jessica's Guide series. This book is fun, and has some wonderful geek homages (Nancy Drew, Schopenhauer) that I enjoyed. That said, it did have some weaker points. The heroine, a girl bright enough to read philosophy for fun, missed some pretty obvious things about her brooding hero, but I understand that in a romance you sometimes have to throw in some silly misunderstandings to build tension. The secondary characters were a little shallowly drawn, but the plot had a good pace and some hilarious twists and turns. One of the few technical flaws that I noted was the identification of a steroid drug as something that would commonly be recognized as a cancer anti-emetic, instead of something like Zofran. A smaller error than many that Agatha Christie made in her mysteries, but still enough to throw me out of the story.Overall well worth your time, if perhaps not as polished as her Jessica series.

Best Fantaskey book I've ever read, and I've read all of them. No characters were left unexplained or feeling two-dimensional, which I feel is really important. With a well rounded plot that would make Nancy Drew jealous, this book is great for readers of all ages, even those older than high school level.

I really liked this book. It was well written with lots of twists and turns to keep it interesting. I loved the quarterback hero! He was my favorite!

My 13-year-old daughter was assigned this book for summer reading. She loved it and looked for other books by the same author.

This is young adult fiction and I've seen it on the Texas reading list for grades 6-8.

Great book and it came fast. Thanks!

I rated buzz kill 4 because it was so interesting you didn't want to stop reading and in the beginning you couldn't really tell what was going on till you got to pg30-40. Overall it was a good book