Imagine that Veronica Mars was best friends with Benedict Cumberbatch’s version of Sherlock Holmes, and that they got into as much trouble as Ferris Bueller. Something this awesome does exist in “Trouble is a Friend of Mine.”

This debut novel by Stephanie Tromly starts with the witty and sarcastic Zoe Webster meeting the odd and brilliant Philip Digby. Although Digby has more social skills than Sherlock, he is still quite similar to the famous detective when he reads Zoe from cover to cover. Before Zoe knows what’s happening, she is helping him investigate the kidnapping of some local teenage girls, and of course nothing goes right.

Breaking into offices, end-of-the-world cults as next-door neighbors, and some fun, hidden references about other detectives are sure to make anyone who decides to pick up this book have a fun time. For me, it is really hard for a book to generate any sort of emotion. I have only really cried during one book, and if something is funny all I do is smile before moving on to the next sentence. But this book actually made me laugh out loud. The banter between Digby and Zoe was fun to read as well as being able to move the story line along at the same time, which is not an easy task to accomplish for many authors.

With a lot of young adult or even contemporary novels these days, you run into books that focus on one big theme and fail to touch on anything else. I am not saying that these books are horrible, but there are other books out there. This is one of those books.

“Trouble is a Friend of Mine” has a little bit of everything and is also nicely balanced. It has a little romance without it being a girl meets boy story, friendship where you wonder how they are even friends, and a case that feels more like a joke sometimes. You aren’t left on the edge of your seat, but you are left wanting more.