I received this book from Titan in exchange for an honest review.

Meddling Kids follows the Blyton Summer Detective Club when they're all grown-up, and still haunted by the last mystery they solved when they were 12 - and whom the culprit may not have been the man in the mask they thought it was. Now Andy, Kerri, Tim the Dog, Nate and a ghostly Pete have returned to the spooky lake to finally see if things were as supernatural as they believed.

I really liked the premise of this book. I was and still am a massive fan of Scooby Doo so the thoughts of a story telling what happened after a gang similar to Mystery Inc grew up really appealed to me.

I feel like this book started off strong, and I enjoyed the introductions to all the characters and starting to learn their different personality traits and how the past case in Blyton Hills affected them all differently. However, as the story really got going, it actually began to fall short for me and I could no longer ignore some of the things I was having difficulty with. There were a lot of really odd comments made about Andy - who is described as being a tomboy growing up, and now just a badass ex-Marine - and how maybe she was transgender. However, these comments were always made by people other than Andy, and sometimes in derogatory ways that were written to seem kosher and honestly the whole thing came across as really transphobic. I also didn't like how forced Andy and Kerri's relationship seemed at times, and it honestly all felt a bit sleazy near the end. I get what the author was trying to do but it didn't work.

This book was also just way too long, and I got really bored at times when I was suppose to be on the edge of my seat. My favourite part of the story was Tim the dog, and I also liked that the guy who bullied them when they were younger apologized for his actions and acknowledged what he had done wasn't right (even if his apology wasn't that well-received).