Rita’s Revenge by Lian Tanner is a sequel to A Clue for Clara and written with the same humourous context of farmyard animals solving crimes. While Clara is a chicken who can write notes, Rita is a duck who can also write but struggles with spelling. Nevertheless, both manage to communicate with humans.
Rita is trying to restore her reputation following her performance at a disastrous Talent Night and offers to take revenge on Clara. The ducks believe Clara is telling lies about them. Rita recruits a human, Tracy to help her. Tracy attends the same school as Olive who owns Clara but the girls aren’t friends. The story progresses with Clara and Rita eventually teaming up to find out what crime the suspicious and recently-arrived Delphine is about to commit.
Lian Tanner cleverly uses Tracy’s letters to give us insights into her state of mind. Tracy is struggling with her parents’ divorce and feels forgotten and unwanted. She writes to Jubliee whose father was exposed by Clara as the sheep thief in Tanner’s previous book. Tracy is unable to post the letters because she doesn’t know where Jubilee moved to following her father’s arrest.
Overall, this is another fun story with a gentle message about the value of friendship.
More reviews of this book can be found on Goodreads and for more of my book reviews click here.
