In Wil Morgan's life, ordinary events in a dull environment are the norm. His job as a private investigator specializing in divorce and insurance fraud gives him little joy or money to pay his bills. The people he interacts with on a daily basis do nothing to make his life more memorable. And for years, he's lied to his father about his work, telling him he's an accountant, which only adds to the gloom in Wil's life. On his daily trudge to work, past the giant billboard of Marcus James, "national TV personality of no apparent talent who nevertheless possessed the ability to persuade millions of people to part with something useful in exchange for something useless, usually in three or four easy payments," Wil's only moments of pleasure are when he allows himself to reminisce about his childhood and his mother, who was able to show him the magic in everything. But Melinda Morgan died when Wil was 10, and with her died Wil's ability to see the world in a different light. That is, until Mr. Dinsdale, curator of the Curioddity Museum, appears in his office to hire him to search for a box of levity (the opposite of gravity) that has gone missing from its exhibit in the museum. Wil accidentally discovers the box in a junk shop, landing a first date with the eccentric proprietress at the same time, before quickly moving on to solve another case at the museum. Over the course of just a week's time, Wil discovers far more than he ever imagined as he sleuths his way through a new and intriguing existence.
Known for his graphic novels and video game storylines, Paul Jenkins has written a droll debut mystery full of odds and ends, moving crates, perpetual motion machines and a host of other items that look like junk only to those who don't know how to un-look at the world. And as a delightful poke at modern technology, Jenkins includes a Lemon brand cell phone, which responds to voice recognition through an erratic and problematic operating system named SARA. Rather like a pinball machine--where the game starts out slowly at first, as the ball arcs to the top of the playing field, before dropping into any number of potential avenues for play--Jenkin's story quickly amps up into a pell-mell scramble to save the Curioddity Museum from going under, courtesy of the twisted business practices of the conniving Marcus James. Quirky to the core and full of wordplay, Curioddity examines the mysteriousness and magic inherent in life that many may have forgotten exists in a world full of technical gadgets, regulations and network shopping channels. --Lee E. Cart, freelance writer and book reviewer
Shelf Talker: Curioddity is an offbeat, magical detective story that blends elements of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere with Robin Sloan's Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore.