Black Taxi - Hardcover

Moloney, James

3.44

170 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060559373 ISBN 13: 9780060559373

Publisher: HarperTeen, 2005

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Rosie Sinclair is just a typical teenage girl -- except that her best friend is an exotic dancer and her beloved grandad is involved in just a bit of crime. When he has the bad luck to get busted on the last job of his career, he turns his cell phone and the keys to his black Mercedes over to Rosie for safekeeping while he's inside.

Although Rosie has to cart around her grandad's elderly friends -- the wrinklies -- on their errands, she soon realizes that the Mercedes has its benefits: It helps her land dates with two of the hottest guys in town. Life is looking pretty rosy until the day she gets the first threatening call on her cell phone. A jewelry heist has gone wrong, and every crook in town thinks her grandad has something to do with a diamond ring that's missing. With his safety in jeopardy, Rosie sets out to solve the mystery. But can she find the answers before the icy voice on the other end of the phone finds her?

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About the Author:

James Moloney has written many award-winning books for children, including A Bridge to Wiseman's Cove, which won the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award. A full-time writer, Mr. Moloney lives in Brisbane, Australia, with his wife and three children.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 8 Up–Rosie Sinclair, 16, loves her grandfather but is aware that he's "just a little bent" and oftentimes on the wrong side of the law. So when he's arrested and jailed for a crime, she knows that the inevitable has happened. The teen inherits his Mercedes and the responsibilities the Merc entails: taxiing elderly citizens on errands. She even gets a cell phone for her troubles, and her new vehicle helps catch the eye of sweet jock Todd and bad boy Chris. Soon she starts to get calls from a cranky and dangerous-sounding scoundrel who demands that she return The Ring. Rosie doesn't know what he's talking about but realizes that she'd better figure it out before anyone gets hurt. This frothy read does not falter. Rosie's narration is quirky, smart, and funny. She's essentially an Australian teenage Stephanie Plum, as in Janet Evanovich's One for the Money (S & S, 1994). While the tone and content are appropriate for teen readers, it's important to note that Rosie's friend, Glenda, is two years older and works as an exotic dancer in order to pay for her university schooling. The two enjoy an honest, sisterly relationship and are the best-developed characters in the story. Astute readers will pin the villain but will have fun finding out the how and the why.–Sarah Couri, New York Public Library

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