Saturday Short-Story Review: Detective Nosegoode and the Music Box Mystery (Detective Nosegoode #1) by Marian Orloń

Hello Book Lovers! Today’s Short Story is not actually very short if you look at the page count but it’s definitely quick read and if you cut the illustrations it may come around 100. Anyway books with 100 or less pages were not that interesting on NetGalley this time. So picked this one that I came across many times but by the time I decide to read it was not available. So, I logged in Edelweiss and there it was. By the cover only I wanted to read this book and description was quiet tempting.

Detective Nosegoode and the Music Box Mystery (Detective Nosegoode #1) by Marian Orloń, Jerzy Flisak (Illustrator), Eliza Marciniak (Translator)

Published: August 3rd 2017

Read Date: January 20th 2018

Publisher: Pushkin Children’s Books

Genre: Children’s Classic, Mystery

Pages: 128

Stars: 5/5

This is first in the Detective Nosegoode series- An interesting and cute illustrated children’s Classic.

Nosegoode is kindhearted, retired detective, and author of ‘How to unmask a Thief’. After years of adventure, he has come back to his native- Lower Limewood- to live in peace with his friend Cody, an ordinary dog with extraordinary ability to talk. Little he thought in his native town he will find another adventure. A hundred year old Music box is stolen from local clockmaker’s shop and detective Nosegoode is called to investigate.

Who stole the Music Box and why? What’s the secret of Music Box? Who is the mysterious bearded man (Blackbeard) who follows Nosegoode everywhere? How Detective Nosegoode is going to solve the mystery of Music Box?

This was cozy mystery for Children, about the adventure Detective Nosegoode and his talking dog- Cody solving the mystery of Music Box with simple but beautiful pencil drawn illustrations. I loved the drawing of detective and his dogs.

The story was told in third person narrative. It perfectly sounded like narrated by a storyteller. Parents can read out this story to their children. The language easy that could be understood by young readers.

Interesting plot and setting. I loved the way little town and hustle-bustle in it was narrated. The names in the book like Hummings, Butterflies, Swallowtails etc. were quite interesting for children

This book just reminded me of Tintin and his dog (Snowy), but imagine Tintin old and retired but as always sharp and clever, hungry for adventure, and itchy to catch thieves and solve the mystery- that’s Detective Nosegoode in this book.

I bet children would love the dog, Cody. He was quirky, amusing, and direct. I giggled when he showed dislike for the café and its owner who put a sign on the door, ‘Please come in but leave your dog outside’. He was funny in the book. Friendship between detective and Cody was lovely. . The discussion and argument between Nosegoode and Cody was very natural and entertaining.

“My great friend detective Hippolytus Whiskers has a golden rule that he always followed in his work. It went something like this: If we don’t know what we want to know, let’s reflect on what we do know, and that will lead us to what we don’t know.”

Mystery was quiet intriguing. At one point it made me so sure about who might be the thief and the next moment I thought no, there might be other. As the story progressed there were few good and strong puzzle pieces to mystery that made me curious and read more to find out who the thief might be. Investigation goes very smoothly and I liked to read the story behind Music box and how detective found clues and evident

It was very quick read. End was nice and interesting. It also had message that greed and thievery is not very nice thing, it’s full of shame and guilt that you want to erase that incident from your mind.

Overall, It was interesting nice little mystery that I recommend to all young readers who loves detective stories. If you liked ‘The Adventures of Tintin’, I’m sure you will like this series too.

About Author:

Marian Orłoń (1932-1990) worked as a teacher, and then a librarian while pursuing an extremely successful career as a children’s writer. His subtle sense of humour and exciting plots made the stories in his Detective Nosegoode series bestsellers in Poland. His books have now been translated into six languages. In 1981 he was given Poland’s highest literary honour, the Council of Ministers Award, for his life’s work.

Buy Here: Amazon.in

*** Note: I received review copy of this book from the Publishers via Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review. ***

What do you think about the book and my review? Have you read this book already? Have you read anything similar to this book before? Share your thoughts in the comment-box below.