Making Millions
by Erika McGann (O’Brien, 2017); audiobook read by Aoife McMahon (Bolinda, 2020)
The Bubble Street Gang’s second adventure features plenty of personality but no real mystery (beyond the funny, blatantly spurious ‘invisible boy’). Cass’s wilful obliviousness is more than a trifle over-the-top, her schemes almost distressingly flawed. McMahon’s reading once again elevates the text.
The Clubhouse Mystery
by Erika McGann (O’Brien, 2017); audiobook read by Aoife McMahon (Bolinda, 2020)
A lively introduction to Irish primary-school detectives Cass and the Bubble Street Gang. Cass is an optimistic, self-centred fantasist whose gung-ho, take-charge leadership comes zestily through in the first-person narrative (and especially in McMahon’s audiobook reading). The mystery is slight but age-appropriate.
The Hoarder
by Jess Kidd (Canongate, 2018); audiobook read by Aoife McMahon (Whole Story Audiobooks, 2018)
A twisty, poetic novel; part murder mystery and part character study, with magic realism and a large chunk of ‘not really anything at all’ thrown in. Aoife McMahon’s audiobook reading captures the narrative voice and papers over the lack of raison d’être.