Author Joy McCullough (Enter the Body; Blood Water Paint) and illustrator Shane Cluskey's Basil & Dahlia is "Hansel & Gretel" by way of A Series of Unfortunate Events: a quirky, lightly magical mystery filled with mouthwatering food and sinister adults.
Basil and Dahlia's parents blew up in a greenhouse explosion, and now they are orphans, tragically in the care of a nondescript social worker who plans on separating them. Rather than face the future alone, Dahlia and Basil leap from a moving train and stumble through the streets of New York City, where they are lifted out of a dumpster dive by celebrity chef Laurel Fox. She seems like the perfect person to take in two hungry orphans, but as she welcomes the siblings into her home, they discover that Laurel's heart is not as warm as the desserts she bakes. Can the two escape from her delicious-yet-dangerous mansion?
McCullough's character work shines: the titular heroes struggle with guilt over their parents' demise even as they consistently support each other; the creative yet dastardly villains are only outshone by the everyday workers who step up to help. The only hitch can be found in the narrator, an unnamed technophobe presumably from the 18th century, whose occasionally wry comments otherwise detract from the unfolding mystery. Stark, stylized illustrations from Cluskey (The Sackville Street Caper) are perfectly creepy and help set the unconventional tone.
Basil & Dahlia, which borders on delightfully ridiculous, should be great for fans of Kathryn Siebel's The Trouble with Twins or young readers who find The Great British Bake Off suspicious. --Nicole Brinkley, bookseller and writer