Breaking the Ring

Set on the St. Lawrence River in northern New York, this mystery revolves around sisters Emma and Jesse, their unhappy friend Maggie and smuggled cocaine. While exploring a reputedly haunted island, the girls discover a bag of cocaine. When they fail to put it back exactly as they found it, the smugglers assume that the girls have stolen it. In between dodging the bad guys, Maggie comes to better understand her parents' divorce and Jesse has a summertime romance. Inglehart has inexplicably and needlessly changed place names, and convenient sand bars have sprung up where only granite used to be. The drug-runners are a mild-mannered bunch, and although diehard mystery fans are likely to overlook such pedestrian details, careful readers may find this a somewhat tired and lifeless story. Ages 10-up. (Apr.)