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The Kid Detective
The Kid Detective “A once famous and gifted child
  detective, now a self-pitying man in his
  early thirties who has turned to drink
  and seems to be on the road to self-
  destruction, is given a new lease of life
  by a naïve new client whose boyfriend
  has been brutally murdered, bringing
  him fresh hope and a kick-start to his
  adult career in the tongue-in-cheek
  mystery drama The Kid Detective...”

DEPRESSED AND DISAPPOINTED WITH LIFE and drinking himself into a stupor, former celebrated precocious "Kid Detective" Abe Applebaum (Adam Brody) has grown up haunted by the case he was unable to solve back when he was just twelve-years-old, that of a missing girl.

Everybody had been counting on him to find fourteen-year-old Gracie Gulliver (Kaitlyn Chalmers-Rizzato), the mayor's daughter, who was believed to have been abducted. Unfortunately Abe's amazing sleuthing talents failed him, causing him anxiety and sleepless nights as the town's disappointment grew more palpable. Unable to cope, her distraught father took his own life.

“The Kid Detective
is an intriguing, darkly
amusing and heart-felt
story of a young boy
with a very special gift
who was feted by
everyone until he was
unfairly shunned
for being unable to solve
a serious case...”
Now in his early thirties and living in a flat share, Abe is a shadow of his former self, sinking into oblivion with drink and often not even bothering to get himself dressed. His parents (Wendy Crewson and Jonathan Whittaker) are concerned about him and try to support him, but he is desperately in need of something that will help him get his life back together.

Into his office steps Caroline (Sophie Nélisse: The Book Thief), who had called on his skills years before when someone had stolen her brooch and he successfully tracked down the culprit. She now wants to find out who murdered her boyfriend Patrick (Lian McLean-Smits), whose body was found with multiple stab wounds floating in the river.

Abe throws himself into the investigation, being driven around by Caroline to visit Patrick's parents, Mr and Mrs Chang (Tzi Ma: Mulan; The Farewell) and Sharon Crandall (Airforce One), and Patrick's friend Calvin (Dallas Edwards), who tells Abe and Caroline that there were things she did not know about Patrick.

Patrick was apparently having an affair with a mystery girl, whose photograph he kept hidden. Calvin did not know who the girl was as in the photograph she was wearing nothing but a tiger mask. Abe and Caroline break into the school to search Patrick's locker, but it has already been emptied. It also appears that Patrick was using drugs.

Abe is having trouble from a former classmate, Rory Beans (Steve Gagne), whom he exposed as the thief who stole the charity money box from the school. Rory insisted he was innocent and that he had been framed.

Caroline has been finding beautifully-made paper roses in her locker for some time and was sure that Patrick was leaving them there. However, when Abe visits Gracie's mother (Deborah Tennant), he finds one in Gracie's bedroom and begins to feel it is significant to solving the case.

With little success, he follows up another train of thought. Abe becomes frustrated and begins to take drugs and is drinking again; but Caroline is not going to give up on him.

Having cleaned himself up and back on track, Abe is once again on the trail of the killer. There is a surprise in store for him as he begins to realise that clues from the past can be used to solve the current case, but will it be too late to right an injustice from the past and also solve Patrick's murder?

Abe is determined to make a success as an adult detective and turn his life around forever, but with Caroline's life at risk, and possibly his own, he will have to move quickly to discover who, in this close-knit town, is the good guy and who is the bad guy.

The Kid Detective is an intriguing, darkly amusing and heart-felt story of a young boy with a very special gift who was feted by everyone until he was unfairly shunned for being unable to solve a serious case. Can he regain the respect of the town and re-establish himself as an adult detective? Or have his talents vanished as quickly as they came?

The Kid Detective also features: Sarah Sutherland (Television's Veep) as Lucy; Alan Catlin as Mr Hepburn; Maurice Dean Wint as Constable Cleary; Peter MacNeill as Principal Erwin; Amalia Williamson as Melody Miller; Isaac Kragten as Billy; Brent Skagford as Barkeep; Kaleb Hom as Corey; and Jesse Noah Gruman as Young Abe.

Music is by Jay McCarrol; Cinematography by Mike McLaughlin; Producers are: William Woods and Jonathan Bronfman, Luke Black (Supervising) and Andrew Bronfman (Supervising); Adam Brody is an Executive Producer; and Written and Directed by Evan Morgan (A Pretty Funny Story).

* Dark comedy noir The Kid Detective is available from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment to Download and Keep from 15 March 2021 and to Rent on Digital from 29 March 2021. Certificate: 15 | Running Time: 100 Minutes Approximately.

"The Kid Detective is an intriguing, darkly amusing and heart-felt story of a young boy with a very special gift who was feted by everyone until he was unfairly shunned for being unable to solve a serious case" — **** Maggie Woods, MotorBar

**** — The Guardian
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