Agatha, Girl of Mystery #2 - The Pearl of Bengal

I am so glad I picked up this series.  I wasn't certain what I would think of it (even though I bought all 10 books in the series before I ever read the first one), but I did rather enjoy that first one.  It was a quick, easy read, yet it had a great little mystery to it.  And sometimes, let's face it - you want to read something that is light and can be finished in an hour or less.  And the Agatha, Girl of Mystery series definitely fits that category.  Plus, it has such fun characters, all of whom bear a literary name - Agatha (after Ms. Christie, obviously); her cousin Dash (after the author, Mr. Hammett); her butler Chandler (after the novelist, Raymond); her Siberian cat Watson (I don't think I need to tell you this one); and her uncle Rudyard (after the English writer, Kipling).  Thus, anyone who enjoys mystery is sure to get a kick out o these adventures!

The Pearl of Bengal takes Agatha, Dash, and Chandler (along with Watson, of course) to India, to not only find a missing man, but also an invaluable missing pearl!  After their first adventure an Egypt, our young detectives-in-training are called upon by one of Dash's professors to locate the famed Pearl of Bengal that has been stolen!  The only thing they have to go on is (a) a recorded phone call filled with static; (b) a few photos; and (c) a missing man.  Dash has five days to find the missing man, recover the pearl and solve th mystery - or he will be expelled!  So, what else can he do but turn to his exceptionally intelligent and skilled younger cousin who can solve a mystery, or her last name isn't ... well, Mistery!

The story is written by Sir Steve Stevenson, translated by Siobhan Tracey, and adapted by Maya Gold - so it's really hard to say exactly which of these three deserve the kudos for the writing here.  I'd go with Stevenson, with the idea that Tracey and Gold merely took what Stevenson wrote and translated it from its original Italian format into the English language for our enjoyment. But Tracey and Gold must deserve some credit, for being able to translate it in such a way as to keep Agatha's quirky nature, Dash's inept fear of everything, and Chandler's strength and loyalty.  And the illustrations by Stefano Turconi only add to the fun (because, let's face it - I'm a huge fan of internal illustrations, having grown up with them in the Nancy Drew, Bobbsey Twins, and other children's series I read growing up).

The mystery is pretty straightforward - upon arriving in India, Agatha and her crew are given four potential suspects from Captain Deshpande, the local authority.  The missing man's son, a Spanish couple on vacation, and a local who disagreed with the missing man on how the Temple of Kali should be run are the only ones who seem to have an interest in either the missing man or the pearl.  It's Agatha's job to weed through them and determine which of them had the means, motive, and opportunity to kidnap a man and steal the pearl from the guarded temple!  One by one, she begins to cross the suspects off her list, until she discovers she has no suspects left - which leaves her with the all-important question - with no suspect, how can she solve this case?

Of course, for adult readers, the solution to the mystery is pretty obvious from the get-go, but for the young readers this series is intended for, I can see this giving them cause to ponder.  The only thing I do have to wonder is this: how is Agatha capable to taking her Siberian cat with her everywhere, and how does it not run off?  Don't get me wrong, I do love cats, and there is one particular scene where Watson faces off against a much larger cat (the title to the book might give you a clue as to what kind of cat); but in reality, a cat is not like a dog, and it is very unlikely to stick around when given freedom to run!

For a quick, easy read with an enjoyable story, this is definitely a series I'd recommend!

RATING:  8 way-too-thin bamboo canes out of 10 for giving readers a story with liars, tigers, and thieves - oh, my!