White Pine nominee, 2009 Spinetingler Magazine Award Nominee, 2009 Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice, 2009 A boy maybe twelve years old, on a bike, stopped next to Dooley, looked at the kid sprawled on the pavement and said, "Is he dead?" "Yeah, I think so," Dooley said In fact, he was sure of it because there was no air going into or coming out of the lungs of the kid on the pavement Also, the kid's open eyes were staring at nothing, and his head was twisted, as if he had turned to look at something just before he made contact with the hard surface of the path Right away, Dooley knows he's in trouble For one thing he's got a record For another, the dead kid isn't exactly a stranger - and he's no friend So slowly the net begins to close around 17-year-old Dooley, a troubled lone wolf who has a couple of strikes against him already Not many are on Dooley's side; in fact at times he even wonders whether his uncle - a retired cop - thinks he's guilty again There's a big question of trust in their uneasy relationship, and his uncle is the only one standing between Dooley and big time disaster The dead kid's sister Beth is someone Dooley would like to have think better of him as well - but she also suspects he's involved in the crime And all around him are other teenagers at school and in the world he's drawn into who would like to pin him with responsibility for a growing number of murders that swirl through the city Norah McClintock, five-time winner of the Arthur Ellis juvenile crime award, has now moved into a different realm with a richly detailed novel aimed at older teens Gritty, hard-edged, Dooley Takes the Fall is the first in a trilogy of mysteries about a troubled teenager struggling to free himself from the tentacles of his past and the implications of the present conspiracies that surround him

In this sequel to Dooley Takes the Fall, Norah McClintock's gritty mystery of a year ago, Ryan Dooley continues to struggle against circumstances that would defeat most teenagers, let alone kids who have been in serious trouble with the law Dooley (as he prefers to be known) was involved in a break and enter a few years ago, served his time, and is now living with his hard-nosed uncle, a former cop determined that the boy will find a way to lead a blameless and useful life from henceforth But there are threads that still link Dooley to his former life of aimless criminality, and one of them - with the affable Jeffie, a sometime drug dealer and one-time buddy - threatens to bring him down, especially when Jeffie turns up dead, while still owing money to Dooley Much worse, Dooley's estranged mother turns up dead as well They have been estranged for much of Dooley's life, and kept apart by the uncle who feels the son is better off away from the mother, but recently she has made efforts to clean up her act and get in touch with her son again This time it's Dooley's uncle who is suspected of having caused her death somehow, and this of course has major implications for Dooley's own life Looking around, the young man doesn't look to have many options in life, especially when the props holding up his existence start to get kicked away The best thing Dooley seems to have going for him is his girl friend, the luminous Beth, sister of a teen whose death was the focus of Dooley Takes the Fall Never confident about his social status, Dooley hopes against hope that Beth will stick by him, but fears the competition from Nevin, a rich friend of the girl, who drives a Jag and always seems to be around when Dooley wants to be with Beth Somehow, though, Dooley is able to work his way through the immense hazards in his life and emerge, not unscathed, but with his integrity intact Once again, award-winning author Norah McClintock weaves an intricately layered, page-turning mystery that will compel a wide range of readers and inspire a whole new legion of Ryan Dooley Mystery fans Information is withheld until just the right moment, and through it all Dooley's spirit and determination, in the face of difficult odds, will hold readers' attention to the very last, unexpected paragraph

In her third novel about the intense and difficult life of seventeen-year-old Ryan Dooley, Norah McClintock doesn’t let up on the challenges and potential disasters faced by her complex protagonist. At the heart of Victim Rights is Dooley’s girlfriend Beth, whose loving presence is a constant reminder to keep on the straight and narrow, away from the unsavoury life and shady characters that peopled Dooley’s past. But when rumours start to swirl about Beth’s possible unfaithfulness, Dooley’s world is pushed to the brink – and it’s up to him to unravel the increasingly complex truth, or be overwhelmed by the poisonous rumours swirling around him.