Review by Frank Plowright

Adventurous Minnie and her timid elder brother Jackson have just moved into a new house, and their stressed father considers they’d be better off exploring the neighbourhood than being in the way when the movers arrive. He also wants to avoid investigating a strange stain and inexplicable squeaking in another room.

The cover promises two stories, and they’re indeed supplied. In fact if the framing material is included, it’s actually three stories provided. When Jackson and Minnie go wandering they meet Theo, who begins telling them about another girl called Minnie. She lived in Australia in the 1920s, and when strange things began occurring around the house the feeling was Minnie Bowen was somehow to blame. It’s a spooky story, and Theo follows it up with another tale concerning a Minnie Winston whose house in 1987 ran red with blood.

Perhaps not all parents will want their younger children introduced to the concepts of seances, poltergeists and spiritualism, but those of a less nervous disposition will appreciate the clarity and objective view Steve Foxe and Naomi Franquiz supply. As the book title tells us, there is no definitive answer in either case. Some people like the idea of events beyond humanity’s current ability to explain, while others find it a slightly scary proposition. Others still make it their life’s work to provide a conventional explanation for strange occurrences. Foxe just has Theo tell the events as they’ve been reported.

Bearing in mind a project aimed at younger readers, Franquiz ensures sensationalism and visual frights are avoided, even relatively subtle about the idea of a house into which blood is erupting. Minnie and Jackson’s different characters are apparent from the way they look and how they’re posed, and as seen on the sample art, Franquiz provides full period elements. Events in the present day are coloured brightly, while those happening in the past are given muted tones.

The unexplained in this series is treated with sensitivity and an open mind, while Foxe picks cases known in their day, but now faded into history. He moves into territory more widely speculated upon with the follow-up Area 51.