Friday Barnes: In Plain Sight (Friday Barnes #13) by R.A. Spratt

Title: Friday Barnes: In Plain Sight (Friday Barnes #13)

Author: R.A. Spratt

Genre: Crime/Mystery

Publisher: Penguin Australia

Published: 10^th June 2025

Format: Paperback

Pages: 256

Price: $16.99

Synopsis: Friday Barnes hits New York City in this latest instalment of the bestselling detective series.

When Princess Ingrid is kidnapped, along with her fiancé, Binky Pelly, it’s all over the international news. The King of Norway is distraught. The people of Norway are bewildered. And Ingrid’s bodyguard is fired. So, he calls on his least favourite Interpol agent for help – Friday Barnes.

The trail soon leads them to New York City, where finding a princess is harder than finding a tiara in a haystack. Can Friday unravel the mystery of the disappearing lovebirds? And when a Manhattan rockstar’s book of handwritten lyrics goes missing, it’s up to Friday to restore this priceless artefact to its rightful home.

~*~

Friday and Melanie are back to their Interpol work in the art crimes department after sorting out her family dramas at CERN in Switzerland. And as the most with it, responsible and switched on member of her family, now it’s time to find a kidnapped Norwegian princess and her fiancé – Ingrid and Binky. The King has fired Magnus, Ingrid’s bodyguard and turned to Friday for help. Who also turns out to be the king’s least favourite agent. At least he can trust Friday’s logic and discretion.

New York is where things heat up, and the trail leads Friday and Melanie down new roads, and into new mysteries at a library in New York set to play host to some significant artefacts. Soon, Friday has another mystery on her hands when a Manhattan rockstar has his notebook of lyrics go missing. There are all the usual shenanigans of little mysteries along the way that Friday solves with her usual determination and logic, where she sees things that others don’t, and is able to work out what is going on. And it wouldn’t be a Friday Barnes novel without the sleepy, romantic and kind Melanie along for the ride. Who adores Friday’s logic and intellect but is her guide for social and romantic things. This makes them the perfect pairing as they get to play off each other and utilise each other’s strengths in the thirteenth book of the series that I think is going very well as it moves along and explores new facets of the world and mysteries in Friday’s life, and it will be interesting to see where we get to go next with her.

The Friday Barnes series is up to thirteen novels now, and Friday has gone from being a mousy, brainy eleven-year-old to an outspoken, crime fighting, brainy fifteen-year-old in love (though she does try to deny it). There was a lot to love about this novel, but two standout moments for me where Ian’s reference to The Sound of Music, and Friday’s astute assessment of how she feels about romance novels. This is why I love Friday – she is so unashamedly who she is and doesn’t let anyone force her to change her mind. She has also grown over thirteen books and learned a lot about being kind from Melanie. They’re my favourite ride-or-die friendship now. They’ve travelled the world together and solved so many mysteries and been through so much together. In Plain Sight is just like the rest of the series, with layers related to the main plot that slowly reveal what we need to know, and how everything connects at the end. It’s a series that I feel like is always looking for new plots or mysteries to solve, and the thirteenth book in the series is no exception.  It captures everything wonderful about the series as readers get to travel the world with Friday, this time in Norway and New York!

It’s cleverly written with the trademarks of Friday Barnes and R.A. Spratt, where the characters come to life again. Like any good mystery, it has its clues cleverly placed and spread throughout the novel to make the final reveal work well. watching Friday grow as a person and detective has been one of the best things about this series. In the thirteenth book, it feels like things could be taking a turn, or that little changes will be hinted at. Which I think it what makes readers keep coming back. R.A. Spratt knows how to hook readers in, finish a mystery, but leave things dangling for more to come. The new book is its own story with throwbacks to what has come before, and I think that’s what makes this work as a series but also means a reader could potentially pick up the series anywhere and still be able to enjoy it and go back to the rest of it story.

Everything in this book works well, and as the series has moved away from the school Friday and Melanie attended, we get to focus more on favourite characters like Friday, Melanie, Ian, Binky and Ingrid. It’s very hard to say which of the books is my favourite, because they all have lots of things to love about them, and the humour that started in book one hasn’t wavered at all in this one. There is something lovely about a series that resolves the main story of one book whilst dangling possibilities for other plots for subsequent books as well. It has certainly kept me interested and has made me want to go back and read them all back-to-back now. There’s a joy in middle grade mystery right now, and Friday Barnes is one of my favourite series.