A very clever and surprising twist on the classic "young sleuths solving mysteries" trope. Adams takes us on a fantastic journey, surprising us along the way with dimensional characters, complex relationships and deeply heartfelt emotions. That's a lot to ask from a ten minute play, and a delightful revelation in what, at first, appears to be a light Hardy Boys/Scooby Doo style mystery!

I love so many things about this short piece! I love how it plays with the Scooby Doo/Hardy Boys of it all. I love that the revealed "big bad" receives some grace and understanding at the end. I love the world-building of a strange little town where ordinary citizens seem to regularly dress up like monsters. Most of all I love how Adams weaves in a story of grief and forgiveness without losing touch with the inherent humor of the premise. And all packed into a compact 10 pages!

John Adams has a wonderful ability to take a well-known setting -- in this case, Scooby Doo -- and turn it into a coming-of-age play where we see the two youthful sleuths realize that life is more than just a Saturday morning animated adventure. Ben and Gabriel emerge as more than cartoon characters, and in their hunt for monsters in rural Kansas, and when real life intrudes, they learn to face it as adults, not without a few true moments of introspection, and beautifully told.