I love the Al Capone series by Gennifer Choldenko, and this third installment of Al Capone Does My Homework (Scholastic 2013) is my favorite so far.

Moose Flanagan is back, and now he has even more things to worry about.  Natalie is home on break from her school for an entire week, and she still won’t look people in the eyes.  His dad is now the associate warden.  That’s just like having a target on his back as far as the cons go since they have a point system for taking down guards.  How can Moose protect his father from the cons?  Piper is acting stranger than usual.  Where is she getting all the money she’s throwing around?  What else could go wrong?  How about a fire that breaks out in the Flanagan’s apartment.  Everyone wants to blame Natalie.  Can Moose and his friends figure out the real culprit before it’s too late?

Just like in the first two books, Choldenko weaves in facts about life on Alcatraz with a captivating story.  I enjoyed reading the Author’s Note at the end that explains where she found inspiration for this story as well as sorts out the fact from fiction.  Yes, indeed, prisoners did use cockroach messengers  to deliver cigarettes from cell to cell.  And once again, Al Capone himself comes through to help Moose if Moose can just figure out the clue in time.