Nobody's There -- Joan Lowery Nixon Read for the 4th Annual 48-Hour Book Challenge.

Abbie Thompson, 17, goes a little haywire when her father leaves the family, starts dating a much younger woman and buys a shiny red convertible.  So she chucks a rock through That Woman's apartment window. 

Because she has no prior record and there are clearly extenuating circumstances, the judge puts her on probation and requires that she join the Friend to Friend teens-helping-seniors program.  If she sticks it out (and keeps her nose clean) for a year, he'll give her a clean slate.

Unfortunately, Abbie doesn't get paired up with a sweet little tea-drinking, bon-bon-eating, Chinese-checker-playing, sunflower-hat-wearing grandmother-type.  No, she gets matched up with Edna Merkle, a crusty, bossy, grouchy old battleaxe who dresses like Claudia Kishi and thinks she's a PI.  Edna may be crazy (and crazy obnoxious), but she isn't stupid -- and when someone attacks and almost kills her, Abbie realizes too late that Mrs. Merkle may have been onto something big.  With the help of her 10-year-old brother and the comatose Mrs. Merkle's notebook, Abbie needs to crack the case so that someone doesn't get away with attempted murder.

Sadly, Nobody's Home was pretty weak.  It was one of Joan Lowery Nixon's later books -- it came out in 2000 and she died three years later -- and it just didn't have the spark that some of the others did.  It didn't feature much in the way of crazy-ass similes like The Name of the Game Was Murder.  Instead, it had the most cliched mid-life crisis/divorce storyline you could imagine (complete with cardboard Terrible Father, Sleazy New Girlfriend and Weepy Mother), a whole lot of stilted Scooby-Doo-ish dialogue:

"You're the worst kind of backstabbing snitch.  The world would be better off without you in it." (30)

"That car was headed right for us.  Didn't you see how fast he was traveling?  The driver didn't even slow down." (98)

"You and that old hag just couldn't mind your own business, could you!" (194)

and a plot devoid of twists.  Oh, and an awesome bit where Abbie calls the police station and they have no issue with giving her loads of information about the case.  I can take it when it's Nancy Drew getting info from the River Heights PD 24/7.  Anyone else, no go.

Not her best effort.  Rats.  But, you know how it is -- if you write over 130 books, there are bound to be a few stinkers.

____________________________________________________________________

Previous Challenge Books:

The Name of the Game Was Murder (also JLN)
Bloody Jack
Wild Girls