Slick City in Rockfall Mountain is a quirky community of ogres, trolls, goblins, and other monsters. Named for the goop dredged from the bottom of Fang Harbor, Slick City is a hub of technological and engineering development. But Mr. Snag, Gravelmuck Elementary’s ogre custodian, still relies on old-fashioned cleaning slimes in his job. When the acidic slimes are somehow released and run amok, Mr. Snag is arrested, and eight-legged Principal Weaver promptly hires the suspicious Mr. Zallin – a monster who uses more modern cleaning methods – to replace him. Convinced that Mr. Snag is innocent, two fourth-graders, the troll Tank Wrenchlin and the goblin Fizz Marlow, put their detective and engineering skills to work to expose the true culprit.

Liam O’Donnell, author of Owl magazine’s Max Finder mysteries, knows how to weave together elements of detective stories, such as multiple plot lines, red herrings, and the usual suspects. With the addition of graphics by illustrator Mike Deas, with whom O’Donnell created six books in Orca’s Graphic Guide Adventure series, The Case of the Slime Stampede is elevated from a simple middle-grade mystery or graphic novel to a clever amalgam.

The graphics – comics integral to the story’s progression and supplementary illustrations – complement the uproarious text. From the first line (“The principal’s car got eaten first”) to dialogue (“Smart detectives always listen to their tails”) to telling similes  (“The rest of the day dragged like a legless zombie tied to a dump truck”), O’Donnell’s text entertains, and the well-crafted story will leave readers anxious to solve the mystery.­ A sneaky allegory about progress that also touches on the theme of discrimination, The Case of the Slime Stampede is a monstrously imaginative and funny read, and a great introduction to a new series.