This story hooked me right from the beginning. It opens with Cyril saying he started going to law school when he was ten years old. But he didn’t really. He went with his mother to her law classes, so he learned alongside her. This was a great way to hook the reader right at the beginning.

I liked the way that Cyril narrated the story. He was sarcastic and funny. It was good to see the story from his point of view, since he had to go on a search for his mother when she disappeared. This story was originally written in 2005. The only thing that was missing from the story were cell phones and the frequent access to the internet, but other than that it could have been set in 2018.

This story was set in Halifax. There were so many references to the city! I have never been there but I have some close friends from there. I recognized things that they always talk about, such as the Donairs, which is a type of wrap that they eat. As soon as Cyril mentioned that, I knew it was set in Halifax.

The mystery of the story was great. I really didn’t know how it would end. With each clue that he found, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but I was happy with the ending.

This is an entertaining YA read.

Quid Pro Quo by Vicki Grant is an amusing children's chapter book with a great first line: "I started going to law school when I was ten years old." Cyril, now 14, is being raised by his young single mother who found bringing him to evening classes with her was easier (and cheaper) than lining up childcare. Through attending classes and quizzing his mother Andy for exams, he absorbs no small amount of law information.

When a stranger arrives at their home and begins living with them and has mysterious conversations with Andy out of hearing, Cyril realizes there are details of his mother's past that are unknown to him. When his mother disappears, he begins to investigate on his own to get to the bottom of what happened (he isn't interested in foster care, so he doesn't want to report her disappearance to the police).

There is adventure and intrigue (and some suspension of disbelief would be appropriate), but never did I doubt circumstances would be resolved positively. It's not a literary masterpiece, but it is a fun, amusing read. I suspect this book will appeal widely, and it would be just the book to grab the interest of a struggling reader; he or she can cheer on Cyril as he faces dangerous situations and manages to get to the bottom of the mystery.

(I was given a digital ARC from NetGalley and Orca Book Publishers in exchange for my honest opinion.)

A great mystery with a lawyer/law school theme. Legal terms at the start of each chapter. A smart and resourceful protagonist. Lots of interesting characters. An older protagonist, bleeped out swearing (Cyril's mom can be pretty abrasive), and some complexities of the mystery make this good for older middle grade readers (middle school, 6th grade or older).

4 very solid stars for Quid Pro Quo, an amusing mash up of an awkward-new-teen middle grade book and a cozy mystery story.

"My name is Cyril Floyd MacIntyre. I'm fourteen. My mother's legal name is Andrea Ruth MacIntyre, but everyone calls her Andy. She's twenty-nine.
You do the math.
Pretty nasty, eh?"

We follow Cyril, a bit of a geeky, yet snarky-ish, young teen who's just trying to fit in (even though his mom is decidedly not like all the other moms) when some rather sudden mysterious happenings begin popping up in his life. First, a strange man shows up at the door, and there's clearly some history between the man and Cyril's mom. Next, his mom goes missing and only leaves behind a very cryptic voice mail. Can Cyril figure out what the heck is going on?

I really liked Cyril -- he was funny and sympathetic, smart without being a jerk about it (at least not most of the time), and just felt very real. The rest of the characters in the book were not as deeply fleshed out, but that didn't much matter for my enjoyment.

This is a quick, fun read that is perfect for anyone who ever muttered under their breath that Encyclopedia Brown was a bit of a brown-nosed know-it-all.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orca Book Publishers for providing me with a DRC of this book.

This very fun mystery is about a boy named Cyril who is 14 and started attending law school as a 10 year old. Not because he was so smart or so interested, but because his single mom didn't have any other option for childcare. He's a wise cracking kid looking for ways to impress girls (hard to do with his 5'1" frame and 92 pound physique) but when a strange man shows up and moves in with them and then his mom disappears, Cyril has to find a way to save them. The humor and innuendo are appropriate for middle school and up.

I was not a fan of this book, it was written in first person, which is not my favorite. The main charcter is the son of a single mother, it does remind me of the John Grisham's children books. I just wasn't a fan of the voice telling the story, but it was well written.

Fourteen-year-old Cyril lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia with his 29-year-old single mom, Andy, (as he says ‘you do the math’), an ex-street kid with the attitude, and colourful vocabulary to prove it*. When he was ten, she had gone to law school and had taken him with her to every class since their money didn’t stretch to baby-sitters. As a result, he has picked up a great deal of legal knowledge himself. When she graduated, she got him the job as receptionist at the two-woman law firm she works for that deals mainly with poor people .

But all that aside, life is going, if not great, not terrible for Cyril despite being ‘built like a chihuahua’ with freckles and having what he considers a crazy person for a mom. But then a man from Andy’s past shows up, an ex-con who demands her help. Cyril is convinced he must be blackmailing her. When Andy disappears, Cyril must play amateur detective using all his skills, including his knowledge of the law, to find her.

Quid Pro Quo by author Vicki Grant is a fast fun legal thriller aimed at a YA audience but definitely something adults can enjoy. It is chock full of dry humour, quirky characters, and the kind of pacing that has made more than a few reviewers compare it to a sitcom. It would make a nice summer read especially for parents looking for something for their reluctant reader.

*since this is aimed at a young audience, Cyril often mentions Andy’s less than polite verbiage but he doesn’t repeat it

<i>Thanks to Netgalley and Orca Book Publishers for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review</i>

I enjoyed this book. It was definitely a quick read and is suitable for middle grades. I liked the mystery and how it unfolded as the book went along.

I like Cyral. He is written with a very clever voice.
<blockquote>“You’re probably wondering how I now so much about Atula’s Clients. Simple. My mother’s insane.”</blockquote>
You see, Cyril is working in the law office where his mother works, one summer. He also had to go to all his mother’s law classes, because she is a single mother and couldn’t afford to put him in daycare. So, he knows a lot about the legal system in Canada.

And he peppers this knowledge throughout this mystery. The mystery is slow in coming, until you realize it was building from the beginning, but we just didn’t realize it. Which really, is the best kind of mystery. We had almost all the clues we needed to solve it.

But, for a middle-grade book, it is very well written, and makes you work for your story.

Very short chapters, easy to read, but with lots to think about in each chapter, as he lists a legal phrase, and then defines it, and it always has something to do with what is happening.

Highly recommend this book, as it is a lot of fun, and you might actually learn something.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.