I was blessed to receive an advanced copy of my friend Tony’s new book Shadow in the Dark, the first in a series of middle grade mysteries from Loyola Press entitled The Harwood Mysteries.
Title: Shadow in the Dark
Author: Antony Barone Kolenc
Genre: historical fiction
Age group: middle grade
A boy’s village is attacked by bandits in the middle of the night. The next morning, he wakes up injured in Harwood Abbey with no memory of who he is, much less where he’s from or what happened to his family.
The Benedictine monks at the monastery take him in and set him up in a dormitory for orphaned boys on the grounds of their abbey. A kind monk named Brother Andrew gives the boy the name Alexandar, or Xan for short. With Brother Andrew’s help, Xan sets out to learn what happened to him and his family, but as their search continues, they discover that the bandits that attacked Xan’s village aren’t finished with their raids yet, and Xan and his new friends may still be in grave danger.
Author Tony Kolenc has created a fun cast of characters. The monks range from kindly and helpful to stern and cranky. The orphan boys in the dormitory include a bully intent on making fun of Xan at every turn for being clumsy, and a young friend who is eager to help Xan and who looks up to him as if he were a big brother. In fact, Xan realizes that many of the young boys in the dormitory look to him for reassurance when a shadowy figure is seen walking the grounds at night, and the bully tries to convince everyone that the shadowy figure is Death looking for his next victim. Xan also befriends a girl named Lucy and some nuns from a nearby convent. This adds just a hint of potential future romance for Xan, but nothing that would scare off any young boy readers.
Fans of historical novels will appreciate the research that went into making this story authentic to its 12th century setting. Mystery and adventure lovers will appreciate the suspense as the story tension ramps up to the climax.
If you’re a parent looking for a clean read for a boy or a girl who enjoys adventure stories and mysteries, Shadow in the Dark is a great find!
