Down the Rabbit Hole

Down the Rabbit Hole is a young adult and middle-grade mystery novel by Peter Abrahams. The book is the first in the Echo Falls series, featuring amateur teenage sleuth Ingrid Levin-Hill. Thirteen-year-old Ingrid finds herself in the midst of a murder investigation after she accidentally leaves her soccer shoes at the victim's house the day before the killing. The subsequent twists and turns lead her further and further “down the rabbit hole,” all while Ingrid deals with being on the A-level soccer team, starring in her school's production of Alice in Wonderland, and navigating her very first romantic relationship.

Ingrid Levin-Hill, independent and savvy, spends most of her time alone in her small hometown of Echo Lake. Her mother is always gone because of her job as a realtor, her brother, Ty, spends all his time at football practice, and her father is forced to work late a lot because of his boss, whom Ingrid despises. That leaves Ingrid to navigate much of her life alone, including her recent foray into drama as the star of Alice in Wonderland and her life as an A-level soccer player. Ingrid's closest confidante in the family is her grandfather, who causes a stir in the family when he refuses to sell a large tract of land in an up and coming part of town. Ingrid's father, mother, and father's boss try to get Ingrid's grandfather to sell so they can build condos, but he and Ingrid are too clever, quickly finding ways to thwart their plan for decades to come.

Meanwhile, Ingrid finds herself in a predicament of her own. Deciding to show her independence by walking home after soccer practice one day, she gets lost and asks a woman in a nearby house if she can use her phone to call a cab. The locals often refer to the woman as Cracked-Up Katie, and Ingrid definitely finds her strange. The next day, news breaks that Katie has been murdered, and Ingrid realizes she left her red soccer shoes on Katie's kitchen floor.



Ingrid is terrified the police will suspect her of murder if they discover who owns the red shoes. Knowing that Katie's house will be empty, she returns the next night to snag the shoes before they can be traced back to her. After breaking into the house, Ingrid is startled when another intruder interrupts her theft. Ingrid hides under Katie's bed and sees the intruder's sneakers walk past. They are covered in bright green paint. Ingrid has a feeling that the person whose shoes she saw had something to do with the murder. She plans to investigate after the police arrest two homeless men whom Ingrid believes have been wrongfully accused of the crime.

Of course, the police notice that the red shoes have disappeared from their closed crime scene. The chief of police begins to question Ingrid ruthlessly, particularly about the color of her soccer shoes. However, Ingrid is too afraid to talk, even though she believes the police have detained the wrong guys. Meanwhile, the police chief's son has taken an interest in Ingrid and asks her out on her first date. Ingrid likes the boy but struggles to feel comfortable given her role in an ongoing investigation led by his father.

Eventually, Ingrid uses her abilities as an amateur sleuth to discover the real identity of the murderer, finding justice for the two wrongfully accused men the police have detained. The community remembers Katie, Ingrid manages to navigate her role as Alice despite a directorial change that leaves her confused and upset, and even her relationship with her family is relatively peaceful, despite hiccups along the way.



Peter Abrahams is the author of mystery and crime novels for adults and children. He has written many books, including End of Story and Oblivion, and was nominated for an Edgar Award for his novel Light's Out. He has written three novels in the Echo Lake series – Down the Rabbit Hole, Behind the Curtain, and Into the Dark. Abrahams also writes under the pseudonym Spencer Quinn and has written nine books in the Chet and Bernie mystery series, which follows a private investigator and his dog, who narrates their adventures. Some titles in that series include Dog on It, The Iggy Chronicles, and A Cat was Involved. Abrahams currently lives on Cape Cod.