Trouble in Bugland: A Collection of Inspector Mantis Mysteries

William Kotzwinkle

David R. Godine Publisher, 2015 - Juvenile Fiction - 190 pages

A collection of five detective stories for young readers, inspired by Sherlock Holmes and with an all-insect cast of characters. "Excitement and humor!"--New York Times Book Review

Inspector Mantis, accompanied by his trusted colleague Doctor Hopper, go forth from their little flat at 221B Flea Street to solve "The Case of the Missing Butterfly," "The Case of the Caterpillar's Head," and three other antennae-bending mysteries puzzling the populace of Bugland.

Criminal detection, combined with delightful insect characters, makes this, in the words of The Horn Book, "the most engaging and cleverest reincarnation of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson yet." Joe Servello's color and pen-and-ink drawings bring exquisite period detail to these tales: steam engines, deerstalkers, fog, and mandibles have never been more lovingly crosshatched.

"Sherlock Holmes fans of all ages--and entomology nuts--must read Trouble in Bugland," wrote Newsday, "a hilarious homage to Arthur Conan Doyle. Illustrator Joe Servello's handsome pictures in color and black and white are a grand accompaniment to Kotzwinkle's clever and playful stories."

This is a treat for any kid--as a read-alone or read-aloud--who loves a funny mystery.

Contents

• THE CASE OF THE MISSING BUTTERFLY: 4
• THE CASE OF THE FRIGHTENED SCHOLAR: 36
• THE CASE OF THE CATERPILLARS HEAD: 68
• THE CASE OF THE HEADLESS MONSTER: 106
• THE CASE OF THE EMPERORS CROWN: 126

About the author

William Kotzwinkle was born in 1938 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He attended Rider College and Pennsylvania State University.He worked as an editor and writer in the 1960s. William Kotzwinkle is an accomplished author who is best known for his book of the film E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, but who has produced a range of work for both adults and children that often transgresses genre boundaries and the distinction between serious and popular fiction. Beginning as a children's writer with The Fireman, he then published novels for adults such as Hermes 3000, The Fan Man, and Queen of Swords, which began to establish him as an original and distinctive novelist. But it was Doctor Rat that made his reputation as a powerful fantasy writer with a sharp satirical edge. The novel focuses upon laboratory rats whose spokesman, the Doctor Rat of the title, eventually escapes from the vast laboratory where experiments on his fellow-creatures are taking place, and whose adventures are interwoven with shorter tales told by animals of different kinds who finally try to form a whole that will make humans more peaceful and benign. But they are all killed. William Kotzwinkle is a novelist and poet, who is known for his broad range of style and subject. He is a two-time recipient of the National Magazine Award for Fiction, a National Book Critics Circle Award nominee. He lives with his wife, author Elizabeth Gundy, in Maine. He has won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel for Doctor Rat in 1977. He published The Million Dollar Bear in 1994.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Trouble in Bugland: A Collection of Inspector Mantis Mysteries; G - Reference,Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series; Godine Storyteller Series
• Author: William Kotzwinkle
• Illustrated by: Joe Servello
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher, 2015
• ISBN: 1567920705, 9781567920703
• Length: 190 pages
• Subjects: Juvenile Fiction / Animals / Insects, Spiders, etc; Juvenile Fiction / Humorous Stories; Juvenile Fiction / Mysteries & Detective Stories