Review by Ian Keogh

It’s a new school year. The primary cast are now second years in senior school, and of the characters introduced in The Case of the Simple Soul it seems only Clare’s around for the long haul, now in Lottie’s classes. At the start, though, John Allison’s keen on introducing new pupil Lem Wakefield, who stinks of the onions he’s always eating, but apparently you’ll like him if you get to know him.

Why? That’s the mystery this time around, and it comes as quite the surprise when it drops as per John Allison’s sample art around thirty pages in. And by that time it seems it’s only Shauna left to solve it, as everyone else has started eating onions.

The Case of the Lonely One is quite a turn for Bad Machinery. While the series has theoretically featured mysteries, they’ve been silly, and just an excuse for Allison to hang his fine comedic scenes and dialogue around. Here, though, the mystery takes precedence. While some pages lead to a joke at the end others are just there to move the story forward, and either the joke feels forced, or there isn’t really one. Part of the reason for that is because everyone other than Shauna is acting out of character, so reliable crowd pleasers such as Linton’s insecurities or Lottie’s putdowns aren’t on the menu. The new supporting cast are primarily drawn from the role-playing club, and because Allison’s too charitable to make the obvious jokes the results aren’t as funny as in previous books.

That needs qualified, though. Although there are connections, Bad Machinery can be read in pretty well any order, and The Case of the Lonely One reads perfectly well if you’ve not sampled any other books in the series. The mystery is well thought out, silly and solved in an ingenious manner. It’s better when the regular cast start putting in an appearance, though.

The Case of the Fire Inside is next.