BIG BAD DETECTIVE AGENCY

Everyone knows the Big Bad Wolf is…well bad, right?

When the Three Little Pigs’ houses are trashed, who in Fairylandia is the prime suspect? It’s Wolfgang, the Big Bad Wolf (though don’t call him that; he’s trying to reform—he likes gardening these days). Capt. Kreplach, captain of Prince Tyrone’s guard, gives Wolfgang until sundown to prove his innocence…despite the total absence of evidence of his guilt beyond his reputation. To avoid a lifetime diet of porridge in the prince’s dungeon, Wolfgang starts investigating. When he arrives at Dieter Pig’s house of bricks, Wolfgang finds it cleaned of all evidence by the Little Pigs’ mother. (Incidentally, the “little pigs” are not particularly little, and they run the successful PorkerBuilt construction company.) His investigation techniques earn him a mop in the face from said mother. No one in Fairylandia is likely to treat him as other than suspect No.1…until Ferkel Pig, the Three Little Pigs’ eager little brother, offers to assist. The two reluctant comrades set out across Fairylandia, but will they find the actual culprit in time? Hale, author/illustrator of the successful, Edgar-nominated Chet Gecko series, clearly has a lot of fun with this dip into fairy tales for his new series of humorous mysteries. A few of the jokes might fly over the heads of the target audience, but that just makes this a great read-together chapter book.

Funny and flip, like Saturday morning cartoons.