A to Z Mysteries – The Absent Author

Ron Roy's The Absent Author is a clue-hunting mystery for 5 year olds about a book signing where the star guest's chair stays empty.

What happens

Dink wrote to Wallis Wallace, the most famous mystery writer in the world, and asked him to come to the Book Nook in little Green Lawn. Amazingly, the answer was yes. Dink's backpack is stuffed with all twenty-three of his books (and he's secretly terrified about what you're supposed to say to an author).

Then eleven o'clock comes and goes. So does a quarter past. The chair behind the big WELCOME sign is still empty.

Dink remembers a line from the letter he got back. Short of being kidnapped, nothing would stop the writer coming. So has he been kidnapped? And is it all Dink's fault for inviting him?

With his best friend Josh and Ruth Rose from next door, Dink follows the writer's travel plan like a trail. The airport. The taxi. The hotel. They grill a cheerful taxi driver with a mayonnaise sandwich and a gloomy hotel clerk whose moustache looks like a sleeping centipede. A shy writer called Mavis Green tags along too.

It's a proper puzzle for young detectives. Every stop crosses one thing off the list and adds a new question. Why was the man in the taxi wearing sunglasses at night? Why is the signature on the next line of the hotel book all smudged?

The three friends are great company. Josh is cheeky and always hungry. Ruth Rose dresses in one colour from head to toe and has the loudest voice in town. Dink spends the day convinced he's practically an accomplice.

Their teasing keeps it light, so it never gets truly scary, even with the word kidnapped flying about. And the clues really are all there for your reader to spot. The ending makes perfect sense (you'll probably want to flick back and check!).

If you've got a child who loves to work out the answer before the grown-ups do, this is a brilliant one to share.

What to read next

For another case with the same three friends, try The Canary Caper. This time pets are going missing all over Green Lawn, starting with Mrs Davis's canary, Mozart, whose cage hangs empty in her apple tree.