Casebook by Mona Simpson

Miles Adler-Hart is a snoop.  He is nine years old, and fascinated with the adult world, sure that there are secrets there he must know.  He eavesdrops endlessly on his parents to discover what is going on.  That is how he learns his world will be changing.  He hears that his parents are planning to separate and that his life and that of his two little sisters will never be the same.

The separation is tough, but Miles discovers not as bad as he had feared.  The family settles back into a new configuration, but Miles worries about his mother, Irene, or Mims, as he calls her.  Above all else, he wants Mims to be happy so he is glad when she finds a suitor, a mysterious jogger named Eli who is in the same scientific world his mother inhabits. 

The reader follows Miles to adulthood.  His spying increases to snooping in his mother's room, tapping the phone and even hiring a private detective.  He and his best friend Hector are determined to find out all the secrets, but then have no idea what to do with their knowledge.  They discover things that they should never know and must determine what to do when they encounter real evil in the world. 

Mona Simpson has created a character in Miles that the reader will long remember.  He is a typical kid, a little overweight, a little dorky, not sure of himself or his place in the world, but with a heart of gold.  Above all else, he loves his family and friends and only wants the best for them.  He is unsure how to protect everyone and learns the life lesson that we can't control everything sooner than his peers.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction and those interested in family relationships.