Charlie knows it wasn't an accident — and he was not expecting to spend his summer trying to solve a murder.

Helping his mother run the family hotel doesn't usually offer much excitement. The only other people around are Penny Price, a spoiled child actor and star of the hit TV series Little Miss Murder being shot in town, and Mr. Ignato, an elderly resident at the hotel.

When Mr. Ignato dies from a fall down the stairs, Charlie suspects foul play. Nobody believes him except for Penny, who jumps at the chance to solve a real murder.

The two of them discover that Mr. Ignato was once a famous international jewel thief who stole a million-dollar diamond that was never recovered. Is Mr. Ignato's criminal past related to his untimely death? And can Charlie and Penny prove that it wasn't an accident? (From Orca Book Publishers)

John Lekich is a Vancouver journalist and author whose work has appeared in publications such as the Hollywood Reporter, the Los Angeles Times and the Globe and Mail. He is the author of several YA novels, including The Prisoner of Snowflake Falls, King of the Lost and Found and The Losers' Club, which was a 2002 finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for children's literature – text.