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 in my business. I'm a dog. I'm a detective. The name's Bud Barkin. And this book is about the 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 the 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.

Yours truly, Bud Barkin, P.E.

This book is the winner of numerous awards

This book is part of a book series called Tales From the House Of Bunnicula .

There are 288 pages in this book. This book was published in 2013 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.