Robert Quackenbush’s Express Train to Trouble is a very short mystery for 5 year olds, solved by a duck detective who keeps her kit in a knitting bag.<\/p>\n
Miss Mallard is on the Nile Express, on holiday, and breakfast has descended into chaos. There’s vinegar in Sir Reginald Baldpate’s tea. A trick glass has emptied orange juice down Lady Teal’s dress, the one with the diamond buttons.<\/p>\n
George Ruddy Duck again. He’s been at it all week.<\/p>\n
Later there’s a camel ride to the pyramids, which would be lovely if somebody hadn’t put salt in everyone’s water and a whoopee cushion under Sir Reginald. You’ll pay for this, Ruddy Duck, says Sir Reginald. Everybody heard him say it.<\/p>\n
That night Miss Mallard is woken three times by knocking on the compartment next door. Shouting. A door slamming. Then, at midnight, one muffled thud and nothing at all.<\/p>\n
In the morning Ruddy Duck’s compartment is a mess and Ruddy Duck is gone.<\/p>\n
So out comes the magnifying glass, and Miss Mallard finds a striped necktie that isn’t his, a diamond button that certainly isn’t his, and a date book with a page torn out. Hold the next page up to the light and you can just read what was pressed through. MEET THE FAKER AT MIDNIGHT.<\/p>\n
So who wanted him out of the way? Everybody on that train, more or less, which is exactly the point.<\/p>\n
Every character is a duck, by the way, and every name is a joke waiting for someone to notice. Lady Teal. Professor Bufflehead. Sir Reginald Baldpate. A grown-up reading aloud will spot them all long before the child does, which is half the pleasure.<\/p>\n
There are five chapters and the whole story runs under three thousand words. So this is a proper whodunnit at a length a five year old can hold in their head, with a clue they can actually work out for themselves.<\/p>\n
Nobody is hurt in front of you. There’s a moment where Miss Mallard says she hopes Ruddy Duck isn’t a dead duck, which is a joke, and the tone stays silly throughout.<\/p>\n
If your reader takes to the ducktective, Stairway to Doom is in the library as well. That one puts Miss Mallard in a Scottish castle for the reading of a will, with a thunderstorm outside, relatives going missing and a warning about someone called Kisscula.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Robert Quackenbush’s Express Train to Trouble is a very short mystery for 5 year olds, solved by a duck detective who keeps her kit in a knitting bag. Miss Mallard is on the Nile Express, on holiday, and breakfast has descended into chaos. There’s vinegar in Sir Reginald Baldpate’s tea. A trick glass has emptied […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":11551,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":6677,"lr_next_read_anchor":"Stairway to Doom","lr_seo_hook":"A duck detective, a train full of pranks and a passenger who vanishes."},"book_tag":[22],"age_group":[21],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[848],"class_list":["post-7364","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-mystery-books","age_group-books-for-5-year-olds","book_type-paid","book_author-robert-quackenbush"],"yoast_title":"Express Train to Trouble by Robert Quackenbush | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"A duck detective, a train full of pranks and a passenger who vanishes. For ages 5+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n