This book seem very slow and I dont think it would keep the interest of young readers.

This book is the conclusion to the Great Mistakes Mysteries series by Sylvia McNicoll. But I hope it will not be the last Mistake Mystery, my children and I really hope there will be more books in this incredible series. I have read each of the three books first by myself and then with one or more of my children. I might have even enjoyed the books more the second time through, reading them at a slower pace with my children and their interactions with the story and characters. It is an excellent book in a great series!

In my review of volume 1: The Best Mistake Mystery I stated that in some ways it reads like The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon but written for kids. And after reading the whole trilogy I can stat that even more emphatically. In this volume Stephen Nobel and Renée Kobai are both working for Stephen's fathers pet walking business, the Noble Dog Walking Agency. But this time it is not one crime or mystery that is taking the focus of their attention, it is a crime spree. And unfortunately, all fingers are pointing at either Atilla or Noble. And things do not look good. As more and more crime come to light and each seems to have a link to the dog walkers, they start losing customers like hotcakes. It all starts during a story and a phone conversation with poor reception. This book involves missing items, a ring, a python snake, money, electronics. But things are not always as they appear.

And in this case, even though Stephen counts his days by his number of mistakes. In this case it was all the mistakes that adults made that led to the problems. But Stephen witnessing an adult make a mistake gives him insight into some of the missing items.

As mentioned Stephen counts mistakes each day, and the chapters of the books are days. It is hard to believe that all the action in this book took place over three days.

Day 1 - 11 Mistakes
Day 2 - 10 Mistakes
Day 3 - 10 Mistakes
And as Stephen thinks Too Many Mistakes to Count (those would be the ones made by adults either directly or by assumptions being made.)

I truly love these books. And my children ages 7, 10, and 11 love them also. The books are great reads, and are also really fun to read out loud in a group. My older children are at a point where we were alternating pages as we read this book together.

As a family we can highly recommend this book, and this series. We hope there will be more to read soon. This book is entertaining for readers of all ages. (And I am not even a pet guy.)

A very fun story that children and their parents will both enjoy.

Really interesting read. Might be a bit long for some children. The language is simple enough to understand and the story is engaging.

Stephen and Renée with their canine sidekicks, Ping and Pong are back for another Mistake Mystery. Stephen is still counting mistakes, although in this story, it seems that most of the mistakes being made are by adults rather than Stephen. Although, you would have to say that not checking whether Brian was a dog (and what size) or not before rushing off to feed him, with two small pooches in tow, probably was a very big (and potentially catastrophic) mistake: “Mistake number three of the day is pet-identity confusion. First we assumed King was a dog, then a rodent. “This mouse isn’t King,” I tell Renée. “This mouse is King’s dinner!” (no spoiler – look at the title)
There seem to be so many crimes in this book, that you have the horrible feeling that these Mistake Mysteries have suddenly gone dark. As in the past, Attila is the number one suspect for at least some of the crimes. But, like Renée, you cannot believe that he is really that bad (or is he?).
This time suspicions don’t just fall on Attila, but on Noble Dog Walking too. Soon Stephen and Renée are fighting not just to save Attila (though Stephen is not too sure about that) and the cats at the local pet sanctuary, but also Stephen’s father’s business. They may never get to walk Ping and Pong again!
The story and characters, as always are captivating. The writing style is also superbly evocative: ““Storm’s coming in,” he says as the bruises close over the sky and the bright part shrinks” and “The sea of wet rats rushes in, barking. Suddenly, the room fills with that certain smell, musty yet sweet, with a tang of dirt to it. Wet dog. I love it”.
This series is for children of all ages, especially those who like animals.

Another heartwarming, animal-friendly mystery for younger readers in the series featuring the Noble Dog-Walking service, staffed by Stephen Noble and his bestie Renee, and Stephen's dad, who gave up a stressful career as an air control traffic manager to keep house while Mrs. Noble flies all over the world. Mr. Noble makes delicious dog treats, and has recently begun knitting dog sweaters, as well as boarding and walking dogs.

It's a great service, scrupulously worked on by Stephen, who works hard on controlling his anxiety and OCD, and Renee, who ends up in the guest room at least as much as she's home, as her teenage artist brother Attila seems to spark constant arguments between her parents.

The service is going fine until two homes are burglarized, one after the other, and only Mr. Noble has the keys to the homes. As happens in human nature, rumor spreads fast, and clients quit left and right because things go missing around the neighborhood--including a ball python named King.

Stephen, our first person narrator, who is always watching for tiny clues to how people think and behave, and who counts up his and others' mistakes (in order not to make them again), starts putting together not just social clues for clues to the sinister burglaries.

Like in the best mysteries, all the suspects come together for the endgame. In this case, a Cat-astrophe at the local pound, which needs to find homes for its cat population. With everybody on stage, Stephen and Renee are able to unravel the mysteries.

These are delightful stories, just the ticket for fourth grade and up. Especially for those readers who feel not quite in step with the rest of the world, and are eager for clues in how to be a friend, how to be part of a family, how to be part of a community, and how to be a responsible pet owner.

That's a hefty set of goals, but McNicoll keeps the action so brisk, and the comical moments well integrated with the exciting ones, so that the story never feels preachy.

I love Stephen, Renee, Mr. Noble, and the rest of the neighbors--even the prickly ones, who have their good sides, too.

If your child wants a mystery that is perfectly suited for them, this is the one. Animal lovers and mystery lovers will be totally thrilled by it.

I loved mysteries as a child and this is one to love for kids today (I loved it too). It is fun but still a "who dun it".. Who stole the missing snake?. The detectives are believable and their "assistants" are great fun until they disappear too. Very refreshing to read a children's book that is not all about"feelings" or another dystopian book. The story is fast-paced and will hold a child's interest...both boys and girls. The writing is well done and the illustrations are great. I would recommend this for fifth grade and up.

I enjoyed this book as much as I enjoyed the first two. Animal and mystery lovers will adore these books. The books are entertaining and a delight to read.

I received a copy of this ebook from NetGalley for my honest review.

This is the second book in the Great Mistake series by author Sylvia McNicoll from Dundurn. It's a fun and very well written chapter book for middle readers with an appealing protagonist, Stephen Noble and his sidekick, Renée Kobai.

I really loved that this book gently showed the main character coping and mastering life skills whilst dealing with OCD in a positive manner. He's very intelligent, careful, and honest but not an unbelievable paragon (at one point early on in the book, he's contemplating as only a 12 year old boy can, the social costs of having a friend who's a girl). He's a very likeable kid and I liked that he's not too perfect.

The plotting is steady and comfortably tense without tipping over into scary. When art goes missing around town, Renée's brother Attila gets the blame. Renée is sure that the only way to clear Attila's name is to solve the mystery themselves in between homework, school and their dog-walking job.
The book has 217 pages and would be appropriate for more advanced middle grade readers (there's very little interior art and a fairly complex plot with several story lines).

The cover and chapter heading art are appealingly naive and colorful.

I enjoyed the book very much, especially for showing the normalcy of real life for many people living and coping with OCD and other challenges.

Four stars

Too much reading. The Passing was very long. I don't see my third graders reading this and following along correctly. I liked the story itself but it was just too long.