By Michael Buckley
Two orphaned sisters discover they're descendants of the Brothers Grimm, and that fairy-tale characters are real and hiding in their new town.
Sabrina and Daphne Grimm have bounced through a string of grim foster homes ever since their parents vanished without a trace. Then a grandmother they were told was long dead, Relda Grimm, takes them in, to a town called Ferryport Landing where the fairy-tale characters are real, living in secret, and not all of them are friendly. The girls learn the family trade: the Grimms are fairy-tale detectives. Their first case lands hard and fast when a giant flattens part of town and carries their grandmother off.
For the Land of Stories reader who loved the idea of fairy-tale characters loose in the real world, this is the closest cousin on the shelf, with a mystery engine bolted on. There's a case to crack in every book, a big-sister-little-sister pair who feel real (Sabrina prickly and guarded, Daphne wide open), and a whole town of hidden Everafters to meet. It reads a touch older and edgier than Whatever After, which makes it a natural place to go next.