The Dragon in the Ghetto Caper

A would-be super-sleuth recruits a local housewife as his unlikely sidekick in this keenly observed middle grade mystery adventure from E.L. Konigsburg, the Newbery Medal–winning author of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

Andy’s not your average resident of exclusive suburb of Foxmeadow—whenever he sits down to draw something, it turns out to be a dragon. And he wants to be a detective when he grows up—not just an ordinary, everyday police detective, but a tough, cool, famous detective like the ones he reads about in mystery novels.

Everyone knows a famous detective needs a sidekick, and Mrs. Edie Yakots, a lonely bride new to the neighborhood, is Andy’s. She may not be what he had in mind—he sometimes has a hard time just figuring out what she’s talking about—but she proved herself simply by being the only one to volunteer for the job. Plus, she appreciates dragons, often talking about standing up to them.

Together, Andy and Edie keep an eye out for suspicious happenings…until one day, passing through an inner-city neighborhood a short drive and light years away from Foxmeadow, they wind up right in the middle of a real-life crime.