The Third Pig Detective Agency The Third Pig Detective Agency Series, Book 1

From Booklist With tongue firmly in cheek, Burke offers a send-up of both fairy tales and hard-boiled mysteries with this series opener that stars Harry Pigg, owner of the Third Pig Detective Agency and a celebrity after surviving the famous run-in with Mr. Wolf. Mistrustful when mysterious, smooth-talking businessman Mr. Aladdin asks him to locate a missing lamp, Mr. Pigg is strong-armed into accepting the case. A madcap adventure ensues, drawing in allusions to fairy tales on nearly every page, from Mr. PiggвЂTMs nimble assistant, Jack Horner, to the geographical setting of Grimmtown. Burke seems to be shooting for the tone of 1940s detective stories in Mr. PiggвЂTMs first-person voice (“that Red Riding Dame”), but one reference to Mr. Aladdin as “an oriental gentleman” feels jarringly unnecessary, particularly given that children will most likely not have the genre familiarity to put such an outdated, derogatory term in context. With discussion and explanation, though, this high-energy caper could make a useful addition to fractured-fairy-tale units. Pair this with titles in Michael BuckleyвЂTMs The Sisters Grimm series and Bruce HaleвЂTMs Chet Gecko books. Grades 4-7. --Gillian Engberg About the Author Bob Burke lives in Ireland. This is his first novel. A rather silly detective story in the spirit of Jasper Fforde. Harry Pigg, the only surviving brother from the Big Bad Wolf attacks, has set up business as a private detective in Grimmtown, only things aren't going too well. Down on his luck, with bills to pay and no clients in sight the outlook is poor. But then in walks local businessman Aladdin who needs someone to help him track down an old lamp. What follows is a case of nursery rhyme-noir. Funny, thrilling and always entertaining, Harry Pigg is an old breed of hero for a new generation. It's as if Humphrey Bogart or James Cagney had walked into the middle of a bedtime story. A comedy caper for all ages. The first in a major new series. When hardboiled detective Harry Pigg is hired to track down a missing lamp for a dodgy local businessman named Aladdin, Harry becomes embroiled in a much larger case, encountering various fairy tale characters along the way