Marc Brandel debuted two books earlier in the series with 'The Mystery of the Kidnapped Whale', which was a pretty effective instalment. This follow-up is less effective, but it takes a while for us to realise that. Initially, it's just as strong as his debut, especially with another solid introduction from Hector Sebastian. There's such a difference between a one page intro and a two page intro, even though the latter really doesn't add a heck of a lot of words. I wish every introduction could be as effective as this one.

When we shift into the story proper, it remains strong with a characterful stop for burgers at the Seahorse Diner. Jupe is planning to lose weight, you see, but they've been swimming in the ocean and they're cycling home down the Ocean Highway, so it doesn't seem like a bad idea. However, in the diner, Jupe can't help but watch the nervous man who's watching the highway and constantly making sure that the cheesecloth wrapped box is still next to him, especially after the man blinks at him. After that, he wanders over to join them and buys their food, introducing himself as Stan, usually known as Blinky for obvious reasons. It's a nervous tic.

He's clearly waiting for someone and when he notices a green van passing with a Japanese driver, he chases after it, leaving his precious box behind. The boys take it back to HQ, knowing that he's got their card and so will likely call for it, only to realise that its contents are alive. It's the pigeon of the title, with the usual three toes on its right foot but only two on its left, ignoring the hallux at the back. Of course, they build a cage for it and leave it food and water but, on returning in the morning, Jupe is stunned to discover that it's acquired an additional toe, restoring it to the norm. Clearly someone stole their pigeon but replaced it, hoping they wouldn't notice. But why?

They've obviously stumbled into a mystery, one that's soon deepened by events at Miss Maureen Melody's place, Melody Nest. She's a regular customer at the library where Bob works and an avid protector of birds, not just through her role as President of Our Feathered Friends. Melody Nest is a raucous but characterful location that seems like a madhouse for birds, because she pays out twenty bucks to free any bird. While the boys are there, a magpie called Edgar Allan Poe brings a gift of pearls. Ralph Waldo Emerson, on the other hand, only brings crap, like hairballs.

I don't believe the Three Investigators are ever formally hired in this book, but Miss Melody does plead for their assistance the next day, after she finds both Edgar Allan Poe and one of her hawks dead. She thinks her birds are being murdered and, given that the cops are often called for noise complaints, she prefers to have someone else investigate. Why not the boys? Unfortunately, this is the point where I have to explain that there's only one actual suspect, namely Parker Frisbee, a supposed friend of Miss Melody's who runs a jewellery store.

That's partly because, when the boys visit him, he tells them that Caesar, the name they gave to the replacement pigeon, is a hen, which he isn't. And it's partly because when Jupe is attacked in the woods with a stick, it's clearly Parker Frisbee doing the attacking, even if he is wearing a pair of dark glasses at night. It's all to keep them away from the dead pigeon with a message, a pigeon with two toes on its left foot. They take that message to Hector Sebastian, so Hoang Van Don can have it translated. It's Japanese and reads "no pearls today".

I liked this setup a lot and I can't say that I didn't like how the rest of the novel unfolds, because it all happens enjoyably enough, especially with Bob doing some deduction and Pete going through the balloon bursting attack depicted on the cover. However, this is one of those mysteries where certain things appear to be givens from the outsight but we have to wait until the boys can figure them out. Sure, they're all bright kids and Jupe has a steel trap of a memory but they don't know everything and they don't have the internet to help them. Sometimes it takes time to get there.

And that's often fair, as when they encounter Cockney rhyming slang in 'The Mystery of the Dead Man's Riddle'. They live in Rocky Beach, California. It probably doesn't come up particularly often and I was only ahead of them because of circumstance. Here, however, it seems pretty obvious at the outset that Blinky's pigeon and indeed its replacement, are going to be homing pigeons. That shouldn't need research. The initial clues are obvious enough, even if not everything is as clear as it initially seems, so the boys, Jupe especially, have to be atypically slow for this to play out over a suitable period.

To be fair, there's one clue that's dropped relatively early that I was apparently too dense to see through at the time, but then I'm not part of a successful amateur detective team. It's not in my job description and, hey, I still figured each step of this one out before the boys. It can't help that the cast is relatively small—and the suspect list does expand beyond just Parker Frisbee, but not particularly far. At least the locations are worthy and the geography of the area actually plays an important part in the mystery.

Of course, the boys solve that mystery in the end, even if Jupe's determination to do so outstrips his willpower to lose weight. I understand this problem but it's not hard to see that he's destined for failure with thinking like "One doughnut couldn't be that fattening." This novel doesn't follow suit. It's certainly not a highlight of the series but it rolls along well enough and Brandel wraps it up neatly. Ever the adherent to tradition, he sticks with what he can't change but mixes up all the things he can mix up, like Don's culinary arts. Hector takes the opportunity to cook "real food" in Don's absence on translation business and the boys help to clean up the evidence before he gets back. And hey, that introduction! ~~ Hal C F Astell

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