Mark Elley

Highly Irregular Mark Elley

The summer vacation time is usually a time for children to try a few new things, go on family trips and play with their friends. However, for four San Antonio Texas 'tweeners' who were all in their Northside middle school's gifted education program, their summer was an adventure that they would never forget. After discovering a dead body and a treasure map the summer would turn from the normal to the abnormal, from the regular to the highly irregular. The one girl in their group, Nancy Kim, takes charge and they become amateur sleuths in an attempt to solve the murder. Yes, a murder! They use the talents they have and the tools they have been taught to search for the truth. Did I mention a treasure map? The map was described as 'priceless' but theirs was only a copy. That doesn't deter them as they morphed their investigation of the murder into a search for buried treasure. They crack codes and enlist the help of the most noted museum in San Antonio to aid them in their search. They also do some normal kid things as they go to pool parties and laser tag contests where they meet up with some of the kids that bullied them at school. Would their wits outsmart the bullies or would they get the mashed potatoes thrown in their face again. The police find out the 'gifted gang' has uncovered clues that they didn't even know existed. Together they attempt to takedown the murderer and his female accomplice who commit crime after crime before meeting up with the 'gang' in an improbable place south east of San Antonio. "Highly Irregular" takes the reader on adventure after adventure as the 'gifted gang' makes an enduring mark on San Antonio as well as themselves.