When Chris McCabe travels to an alternate dimension to impersonate ranking nobleman Duke Christian Lattimore, in an attempt to prevent the duke's untimely death, the last thing he expects is to be greeted by the duke's corpse. The action-packed adventure that follows features a highly original story of magic, love and intrigue in Debra Killeen's young adult fantasy novel, "An Unlikely Duke." While carrying out the acting job of his life, Chris begins the search for clues to the Duke's murder, an investigation that turns up danger, magic and the most unlikely of friendships. The Duke's fresh corpse isn't the only surprise in store for Chris.

Helm Publishing (2007)
ISBN 9780979232831
Reviewed by Tabytha Joy (age 15) for Reader Views (9/07)

“An Unlikely Duke” is a wonderful book about a man named Christopher McCabe who travels into a different world to save the life of a very important person. He goes into a world called “Myrridia” to take the place of Christian Lattimore, the duke of Myrridia.

After arriving in Myrridia, Christian Lattimore ends up murdered and Christopher McCabe must now pretend that he is Sir Lattimore. Christopher and the duke’s wife choose to play along with everything and pretend that Christian was never murdered.

Christopher must now act like he is Christian so that the murder does not become public. It’s not long before the King and Queen realize that Christopher is not their son. Of course, neither the queen nor the king mentions anything about it. Not long after the holidays, it is about time for Christopher to return to his own world, as his job had been completed. But will he go? Or will he choose to stay in Myrridia?

In my true , honest opinion, I think that “An Unlikely Duke” is a perfect example of what a book is about and how it should be written. From page one, I was hooked. The ending was perfect and fit the plot well. I also really like how this book had just the right amount of details. Enough to give information, but not so many that it becomes boring. My favorite part of “An Unlikely Duke” was the love story at the end. Throughout the story, I was hoping that those two characters would get together. (I’m not telling who those characters are as it’s up to you to find out.) I would say that this book would be perfect for people of all ages. Also, I would say that “An Unlikely Duke” should be a must read book throughout all schools in the United States. I really think that everyone would enjoy this book as much as they do the Harry Potter series, if not more. Great job Debra!!