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A crime has been committed at Pat-A-Cake Bakery - pies are smeared on the walls, pots and pans are on the floor, and sugar and frosting are everywhere. Humpty Dumpty Jr. is the first at the scene, and upon entering the bakery, he detects the smell of peppermint and sees a jack of hearts card on the floor. Although Patty Cake’s recipe cards are scattered on her worktable among her half-finished Kiwi Lime Pies and Raspberry Chiffon, Patty Cake herself is nowhere to be seen. The clues lead Detective Humpty Dumpty Jr. to one conclusion: Patty Cake has been kidnapped.
It’s going to be a tricky investigation, though. The suspect list is long and the clues are puzzling. The kidnapper could be a kid named Rat. Not only was he hiding at the scene of the crime, but he tried to flatten Humpty Dumpty with a box of really heavy pots and pans. Another suspect is the Jack of Hearts. It was his card Humpty Dumpty Jr. found at the bakery, and this particular member of royalty suffers from an uncontrollable craving for sweets - so uncontrollable that he found himself pouring butter and syrup over his friend in preparation to eat him! Could he be to blame for Patty Cake’s disappearance?
Other suspects on the list include Mr. Crinkles from the new bakery in the city, and “Johnny” Cakes and his partner, Peppermint Pete. Johnny Cakes and Peppermint Pete are escaped criminals who may have left a little too much of themselves behind at the scene of the crime. In this city of grime where stories start “Once upon a crime,” Detective Humpty Dumpty Jr. keeps doing what he does best - catch the bad guys and help the good guys.
Humpty Dumpty Jr. has had it rough. He has a bandage on his nose and cracks along his shell. His office is cramped, his desk once held live trolls, and the only visible visitor’s seat in his office is an overturned bucket. Humpty Dumpty Jr. is a well-loved detective, though, as all his awards and thank-you letters illustrate, and he is busy. On every page of this book, he can be seen in action. He might be using his “magical” egg beater to stop a criminal, performing his famous Bowling-Ball Juggernaut on a certain runaway pancake, or throwing milk-filled balloons at a gigantic three-headed dragon made out of chocolate cake.
Humorous black-and-white illustrations appear on almost every page. Divided into thirteen chapters with headings such as "Assault and Batter-y" and "The Pancake Crumbles," this book will appeal to reluctant readers as well as those younger readers who enjoy humor or mystery.
Nate Evans has written and illustrated many books for children, including The Jellybeans and the Big Dance, co-authored with Laura Numeroff. Paul Hindman has been writing stories since the second grade. A former editor at Hallmark Cards, his writings have been turned into books and television shows. Vince Evans, winner of the Spectrum Silver Award for excellence in comic art, has worked for several companies in the comic and book industry. This is his first professional collaboration with his brother Nate.
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Humpty Dumpty, Jr., Hardboiled Detective: The Case of the Fiendish Flapjack Flop