Joe Sherlock, Kid Detective, Case #000002: The Neighborhood Stink

My 5 year old son and his father read chapters from Kid Detective every night. They've just started #3. They both enjoy them because they're not only funny, but also introduce new words (with definitions) and ideas. Keane also has illustrations on every page. My sons stays engaged with the story and always wants more! Keane tells a great mystery!

The second I the series, this one finds Joe Sherlock hired by one Mrs. Fefferland, a somewhat annoying and highly demanding lady with a fluff-ball of a dog for a pet who hires him to find out which neighborhood dog is spoiling her beautiful carpet-like lawn with it's awful poo. This one is quick, quick, quick...fast paced and easy to read. The Neighborhood Stink is slightly shorter than The Haunted Toolshed, but just as silly and fun. This particular "episode" is filled with dog poop (the storyline practically hinges on the disgusting qualities and huge amounts of it) and embarrassing moments...the highlight (or lowlight, from Joe's perspective) is his getting locked out by his sisters and winding up stuck in a doggie door in his underpants (Captain Wink Wink undies no less). Stuck once again with his sisters Girl Chat equipment to help him solve the mystery we are left to wonder if this case just isn't a little to stinky for Joe to solve before dinner time. With the deadline on, Joe has to work hard to solve this case despite the succession of unfortunate events that befall him while looking for clues. It's not brain building material by any stretch of the imagination...but it's a fun, quick read just for the entertainment of it all! As in the first book, this one tips it's hat to the original Sherlock, having one of the suspects be the neighbor families dog Peek-a-boo is the culprit...the neighbors name...Moriarity of course! If you like the fist one, you'll like this one as well...but I think its works as a fine stand alone book.

The Joe Sherlock series are the funniest and best books I have read! I loved the first book so, I figured I would love this one, and I did! My favorite part was when Sherlock goes to his neighbors the Moriarty's house to see if their dog Peekabo is the pooping culprate. Sherlocks friend Lance Peaker says the Moriartys are from Uranus but they come to Earth from time to time to see what is good on TV because they are gone all the time.