Two kinds of sleuths inhabit the detective genre: the Encyclopedia Browns, who are sought out, and the Sammy Keyes types, who always happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Three-time Arthur Ellis Award-winner Norah McClintock’s Chloe and Levesque duo are one of each. Chloe, the wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time protagonist and first-person narrator, is the teenage step-daughter of Levesque, the police chief of East Hastings, Ontario. The story opens when Tessa, a girl who looks “scared to death,” comes by the house seeking Levesque but finding Chloe. A few days later Tessa is fished out of a nearby pond. Since the only hint at a murder motive is Tessa’s fear, the cause of her fear, and therefore the identity of her killer, are subject to wild speculation. McClintock cleverly spins these speculations into teen resentments, schoolyard fights, and false leads. Suspects come to Chloe with new information, hoping she’ll vouch for their innocence. Chloe turns this information over to her stepfather, who appreciates it, but refuses to involve her in the official investigation.
Chloe’s dutifulness deprives her of two sleuthing essentials: curiosity and irreverence. Rather than pursue suspects and dig for clues, like Keyes or Brown, Chloe waits for things to happen to her. She isn’t excited to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, or sneaky enough to stay a step ahead of the authorities. McClintock’s attempts at characterization through a sarcastic voice and telling details – that Chloe hates funerals because she hates thinking that death could happen to anyone, for instance – reveal little but a bland and humourless teenager.
Despite this, Scared to Death is a compelling read. The lack of motivation on Chloe’s part is compensated for by the gradually revealed motivations of the suspects. Like the Nancy Drew books, this one will keep young teens turning pages.