Agatha Anxious and the Deer Island Ghost is the first book in the Deadfellow Five series (set in Biloxi, Mississippi) and features a girl who turns thirteen over the course of the novel and has the ability to see ghosts after inheriting a supernatural gift from her aunt. Although Agatha is a very nice and engaging character she comes across as much less than thirteen and I would pitch the story at kids aged eight to eleven. However, the plot is fairly slow moving and kids that young might get bored by the sluggish pace and lack of action in the early stages. It was also disappointing to see the boy character (Leopold) given a very bland and one-dimensional support role. There are a never-ending supply of books full of girls like Agatha Anxious, but sadly boys seem to have been completely written out of the equation. Many of the characters also have really twee sounding juvenile names, such as Dorian Doom or Leopold Panic which sound like they belong in a cartoon.

In the early stages of the story Agatha realises she can see ghosts and hangs out more with her aunt than other kids at school, preferring to visit the local graveyard. Around the time her aunt Hattie disappears Agatha and Leopold embark upon solving the mystery of what happened to her aunt, whilst connecting it to another classmate finding an ancient coin which might have a connection to a local myth. Agatha realises she has to help the ghost which has been reaching out to her and this connects not only to a wider local mystery, but also a book report for school. The supernatural story was very slow moving, a skeleton hand and then communication via a scrabble board, but was nicely supplemented by school classroom scenes, the relationship with her aunt and a good lead into the second book in the series. Agatha Anxious was a nice, non-threatening and not too scary read for lower Middle Grade readers. AGE RANGE 8-11.

RJ McDowell's first entry in the Deadfellow Five series for MG readers is a creepy mystery. It's vibe is part VC Andrews, part Horcrux, part RL Stine. Newly 13 year old Agatha Anxious has anxiety, no siblings, and a very peculiar family, whose legacy leads her to meet some truly old inhabitants of Biloxi, Mississippi.


Read in the dark, if you dare!

A spine-tingling tale with a good-natured plot, a determined heroine, and a few twists that will surely give you a chill. Middle school grade thriller/horror reminiscent of my years reading R.L. Stine. The flow is driven and effortless, a real page turner. She kept me guessing and second guessing what would happen next. R.J. left many doors for other literary opportunities to be opened. Aunt Hattie’s shop, the cemetery, and the Undertaker could be their very own skin prickling creation.

“A chill crept up her spine, like a skeleton’s fingers counting each vertebra, one by one until it reached the base of her skull, where it spread open its bony hand across her scalp” (8).

Did you ever catch yourself biting your fingernails, twisting your hair, gnawing on your lips, or fiddling with your fingers? These habits happen without thinking, often when a person feels nervous, anxious, or even scared. But they’re harmless enough, I mean, everyone has some sort of nervous tic, don’t they? R.J. McDowell, the author of "Agatha Anxious and the Deer Island Ghost" challenges this notion, suggesting that maybe, just maybe, these common nervous tics mean something more.

On her thirteenth birthday, Agatha Anxious learns about a family secret linking her with her Aunt Hattie in a way she never imagined. But it’s a secret that not even her parents can know about! Hattie and Agatha are both Perceivers, tasked with the ability to see and help ghosts. Aunt Hattie gnaws the insides of her cheeks. Agatha bites at her nails. These nervous tics identify them as Perceivers… well, the nervous tics combined with the fact that they both like black licorice. But not everyone who has such traits are Perceivers.

Shortly after Agatha Anxious learns about her gift, she encounters her first ghost who greets her using scrabble tiles to spell, “ILIKEYOURDOG.” Whew! This one is friendly! She’d been warned that not all ghosts are friendly. But what does this one need? Will she be able to help it find peace? Trying to go about her other daily tasks of doing laundry, completing homework, and writing school book reports, she knows Aunt Hattie cannot help this ghost for her. She must be brave.

Then, when Aunt Hattie goes missing, Agatha Anxious enlists the help of her friend, Leopold Panic – who frequently bites his lip and tucks his hair behind his ear – to help discover what happened to her aunt while helping her first ghost find peace. A white cat with a unique symbol on its chest. A mysterious coin lost behind a curtain in a masquerade shop. Are they linked with Aunt Hattie’s disappearance? Are any of her other friends Perceivers?

Agatha Anxious must put aside the distraction of her missing Aunt Hattie, and focus on her mission to help her ghost. Will everything fall into place as it should? Will she be able to find peace for her ghost and for herself?

R.J. McDowell creates a flawlessly eerie world in which her characters interact. She builds suspense effortlessly, with the end of each chapter insisting you read the next... and the next. But what I like most about "Agatha Anxious and the Deer Island Ghost" is how the author ties various, seemingly disconnected events together in the end; it felt like watching a puzzle being pieced together before my eyes with pieces that I didn’t realize could fit together, but it all made up an eerily beautiful picture in the end, making me want more.

Agatha Anxious and the Deer Island Ghost is the first book in the Dead Fellow Five series by R.J. McDowell, scheduled to be published September 2022 by Crumblebee Books. It is a must-read Middle Grade Horror/Ghost story.

I'd like to think that I have become a bit of a connoisseur when it comes to middle grade fiction involving young ladies between the ages of 9-12 solving mysteries and dealing with spooks. I whole-heartedly love some of the series that I have been reading the past couple years, and I pounce on each new volume that comes out.

This book doesn't quite fit into that category, instead dancing on the cusp of middle grade and YA, and I'm not sure that it works for me. Agatha Anxious, personifying anxiety, turns thirteen at the beginning of this book, and as she straddles the world between being a kid and being a teen, so does this story.

There are moments that feel very little kid in nature - the movie nights with her whacky aunt, having a favorite teacher who is a little left of center, hating another teacher and finding nothing redeemable about her. Then there are other moments that feel more young adult - the signs of her anxiety that could broach a conversation about mental health, but don't in the book (in fact, they're ignored by everyone around her) and the predatory moment when she visits a vampire-like fellow who sucks blood from her fingertips while they're unchaperoned in the dark. (As a kid, I would probably just accept this and might not think more about it, but as an adult, I was like, "Oh, this is ...oof.")

Agatha and Leopold, her friend, also feel a bit flat to me. I want them to have more of a personality, to be more developed. There's plenty of space in the story to do it. In my opinion, it would have been better if Leopold and Agatha became friends sooner, so that they could take more action and interact with each other. Their friendship came really late in the game for me, and without them becoming closer, very little happened.

The pacing of this novel was really slow for the first two-thirds or so. Then, near the end, everything just happened quickly. I think a young reader would get bored with this book before making it to any of the really interesting parts.

Aside from these things that I wasn't such a fan of, there were also minor problems that could have been caught in editing, but haven't been yet. For example, Aunt Hattie grabs a white jar and has it in her hand. Agatha sees this happening, and then later it is stated that Agatha never saw her Aunt grab the jar and she was surprised she had it. Agatha is also incredibly poor, and this is stressed throughout the book. Yet, Aunt Hattie casually states that her father has enough money to buy a better home than the one they live in. If this is the case, then why are they so poor?

I think the ideas in this book are interesting, and I think with time and care, this book could easily become one that kids would love. I just think more can be done to fully flesh out the characters and to fix the inconsistencies.