Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Carnival Crime

Table of Contents

 

 

 

ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN, BOY DETECTIVE

 

ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN AND THE CASE OF THE SECRET PITCH

 

ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN FINDS THE CLUES

 

ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN GETS HIS MAN

 

ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN SOLVES THEM ALL

 

ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN KEEPS THE PEACE

 

ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN SAVES THE DAY

 

ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN TRACKS THEM DOWN

 

ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN TAKES THE CASE

 

ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN LENDS A HAND

 

ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN AND THE CASE OF THE DEAD EAGLES

 

ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN AND THE CASE OF THE MIDNIGHT VISITOR

 

ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN CRACKS THE CASE

 

ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN, SUPER SLEUTH

 

ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN AND THE CASE OF THE SECRET UFOs

DUTTON CHILDREN'S BOOKS

 

Published by the Penguin Group

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2011 by Lobos Enterprises, LLC

 

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast.

 

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

 

Summary: Ten brief cases allow the reader to match wits with ten-year-old crime-buster, Encyclopedia Brown, as he investigates such cases as toys missing from a fair, music stolen from a singer-songwriter, and arrowheads that disappear during a campout.

Contents: The case of the vanished sculpture—The case of the glittering diamonds—The case of the tempting toys—The case of the missing songs—The case of the home-run hitter—The case of the lazy lion—The case of the explorer's map—The case of the arrowhead hunters—The case of the courageous camper—The case of the carnival crime.

ISBN : 978-1-101-53575-2

PZ7.S68524Ent 2011
[Fic]—dc22 2010045854

 

Published in the United States by Dutton Children's Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014 •
www.penguin.com/youngreaders

 

The Case of the Vanished Sculpture

The town of Idaville had a secret.

From the outside Idaville looked like many seaside towns its size. It had several banks, three movie theaters, and two delicatessens. It had churches, synagogues, and clean beaches.

Nevertheless, Idaville was different. No one, grown-up or child, got away with breaking the law in Idaville.

Police across the country puzzled over how Idaville did it. Whose masterful mind cracked the hardest crimes? The popular choice was Chief Brown of the Idaville police force.

The Chief was brave and smart. He always knew what to do with an especially hard mystery. He went home to eat.

His only child, ten-year-old Encyclopedia, solved the case at the dinner table. Usually he needed to ask only one question.

Chief Brown wanted to tell the world about Encyclopedia. Yet who would believe him? Who would believe a fifth-grader belonged in the Detective Hall of Fame?

So Chief Brown said nothing and neither did Mrs. Brown.

 

Encyclopedia wasn't looking for the spotlight. He had read more books than almost anyone and never forgot what he read. That was how he had gotten his nickname. Only his parents and his teachers called him by his real name, Leroy.

Thursday night the Browns were having roast chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner. As his father poured gravy on his potatoes, Mrs. Brown said, “Careful, dear, you don't want to drown them.”

Chief Brown put down the gravy boat. “Sorry,” he said. “This museum case has me stumped.”

“What happened?” asked Encyclopedia.

“A small sculpture was stolen yesterday from the Idaville Museum. It was a statue of the Roman god Mercury.”

“How small is small?” asked Mrs. Brown.

“It was about a foot tall,” said Chief Brown. “And pretty heavy, too, because it was carved out of marble. The robbery took place a couple of hours after the museum had closed.”

“Doesn't the museum have security cameras and an alarm system?” asked Mrs. Brown.

“They certainly do,” said the Chief, “and they're good ones. We reviewed the tapes. They show that all the museum visitors left when they were supposed to.”

“After that?” asked Mrs. Brown.

“After that,” Chief Brown said, “the security camera was mysteriously turned off. Now, it made sense that the alarm system was not activated for the night since people were still at work inside. But the security cameras are never turned off on purpose. That points to an inside job. The problem is, there were three employees inside the museum at the time the robbery occurred. One was the Curator of Antiquities, the second was a security guard, and the third was a janitor. They all claim to be innocent.”

“The Curator of Antiquities would certainly know how much a statue like that was worth,” said Encyclopedia.

“He ought to,” his father said. “In fact, he was the one who told us the statue is worth a hundred thousand dollars. However, he's not familiar with how to turn the security cameras on and off.”

“The security guard could do that,” said Encyclopedia.

“He could,” agreed his father, “but he claims he was nowhere near the control room

—which is where the switch off happened. We dusted for fingerprints. The place was clean as a whistle.”

“What about the janitor?” asked Mrs. Brown.

The Chief shrugged. “He says he knows nothing about art. If you need advice on washing a floor, though, he's your man.”

“Have you arrested anyone?” questioned Mrs. Brown.

“No,” said the Chief. “The problem is, the three suspects alibi one another. They were all in the building at the same time. The security guard was making his nightly rounds when he saw the curator working late in his office. They even said hello to each other. The security guard also saw the janitor washing the floor of the lobby. Both the security guard and the curator saw the janitor later rolling the pail away with the mop over his shoulder when the floor was done. They waved to him, too. Apparently, the staff doesn't stand much on ceremony. They're pretty friendly.”

“I don't suppose you can arrest them all?” asked Mrs. Brown.

“No,” said the Chief, “not unless we thought they were working together. We don't think that. We've interviewed the other museum employees, and these three don't seem to have known one another especially well. We've checked their work schedules. Nothing out of the ordinary. And that's too bad. I'm afraid if we don't zero in on one of them soon, the trail will go cold.”

“Don't worry about that,” said Encyclopedia. “I believe I know who's artfully hiding his guilt.”

 

WHO DOES ENCYCLOPEDIA THINK IS THE THIEF?

 

 

 

(Turn to page 77 for the solution to “The Case of the Vanished Sculpture.”)

The Case of the Glittering Diamonds

During the year Encyclopedia helped his father solve crimes. When school let out for the summer, he helped the children of the neighborhood as well. He opened a detective office in the family garage. Every morning after breakfast he posted his business sign outside the garage. He kept his fee to only twenty-five cents.