Dear Reader,
The guy who usually writes these letters asked me to do it instead. Maybe he was having a bad writing day. Maybe he wanted me to play the sap for him. Or maybe he ran into Trouble with a capital T.
Well, Trouble's my business. I'm a dog. I'm a detective. The name's Bud Barkin. And this book is about a case I had involving a dame named Delilah Gorbish, whom I would call Trouble with a capital T except I've used that metaphor already, and a clown named Crusty Carmady whose calling card is a teakettle that he heaves through windows. Nice pair of birds. The mystery deepens with another character called the Big Fish, who isn't really a fish and who's addicted to the Home Shopping Network.
Hey, I don't write 'em -- I just solve 'em. If you're interested you might want to come along for the ride, which is wilder than a bunch of English teachers at a grammar fair. Just remember: I do all the similes.
Yours truly, Bud Barkin, P.E.

 

This book was recognised in the Fiction - Transitional category by the Maryland Blue Crab Young Reader Award.

There are 96 pages in this book. This book was published 2003 by Simon & Schuster .

James Howe is the author of more than seventy books for young readers, including the award-winning Bunnicula series and the highly acclaimed young adult novel, The Watcher. He lives in New York State, USA. Brett Helquist is the New York Times bestselling illustrator of many books, including the Lemony Snicket books, A Series of Unfortunate Events. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.