The Loch Ness Punster (43 Old Cemetery Road)

This whole series has my son really interested in reading-he can’t wait for the next one to come in!

Love this series. Kate Klise is a wonderful writer with a lovely age appropriate wit!

My 10 year daughter enjoys this series.

Great reading for your child. Takes you on adventure and intrigues.

My 9 year old devoured all of the books in this series. She enjoys all the puns and the different methods of narration.

Love this series!

My granddaughter has the whole series. Just great. She loves them. Started when she was about 9 years old.

I first discovered this series with Book 4 and promptly went and ordered the three previous books, plus I’ve since read Books 5 and 6. This series is, overall, pitch perfect. Ignatius B. Grumply, his ghostwriter Olive C. Spence and their son and illustrator Seymour Hope are three of the most charming, lovable, believable and lively characters in children’s literature, despite the fact that one of them has been dead for quite a long time. The combination of the letters and other written forms of communication and the illustrations, along with the setting in Ghastly, Illinois, have made this a delightful, whimsical and terribly punny series of adventures for late elementary to middle grade readers. I have especially liked the emphasis on the dying art of letter writing.When I got the opportunity to order this book, I jumped on it without bothering to read much about it – of course I want more of the Klise sisters. And when I received the book, I dived right in without bothering to read the blurb on the back. But even being blissfully unaware of the impending doom of my favorite children’s series, the sad truth soon began to dawn on me. This book is clearly wrapping up the loose ends. And if Iggy isn’t going to be grumpy anymore, well, he’s hardly even Iggy, is he?Anyway, this story is still basically as madcap as the others, with numerous plot threads twisting and tangling throughout the story only to neatly straighten out in the end, as always. It seems Iggy’s punster Uncle Ian, the psychiatrist, is near to passing and Iggy must contact him or else his estate will pass to his next of kin. Oops, too late. It seems Seymour is heir to Grumply Castle in Loch Ness, Scotland. Iggy wants nothing to do with his annoying old uncle or anything related to him, so he takes a pass while Olive and Seymour go to check out the place. And speaking of checking out, the Ghastly public library has implemented a borrow-a-pet program for the summer, so Seymour checks out an ancient tortoise. That turns out to be worth $10,000. And, of course, no one in Iggy’s life seems to have the decency to simply pass on quietly, so it seems Iggy will have his own reckoning with Uncle Ian – and a long-suppressed childhood secret.Meanwhile, the Queen of England has offered a handsome reward (including knighthood) to anyone who can bring 1,000 tourists to the languishing Loch Ness area. Developer Macon Deals has just the plan, if only he could get ahold of some real estate in the area. Now, who might be willing to sell? Especially if his $10,000 turtle should happen to disappear? But of course, as always, all these disparate threads get tied neatly into a tidy package and everyone gets what he or she has coming.In most respects this book is as clever as any in the series, but it’s just a bit weaker. It seems that the sisters may have been in a bit of a rush to wrap things up, and some events just seem to happen a bit easier than seems entirely believable. Iggy, for instance, seems to give in just a bit too easily and confess everything to Uncle Ian and then his grumpiness seems to turn magically to happiness and laughter. Likewise, the saving of Grumply Castle seems to happen just a bit too easily.But perhaps that’s just a bit of sour grapes because I’m upset that the series is over. The Klise sisters are a masterful pair and I can only hope that they will come up with something even better.