The Fernbrook Mysteries

Fernbrook's hundredth birthday is three days away, and the trophy that's supposed to be at the center of it just vanished from a locked display case.

Eleven-year-old Priya Chandra-Wells wasn't planning to solve anything. She was planning to stay quiet, keep her head down, and not get attached to a town she might not even live in by next year. But she noticed a scratch on a lock nobody else looked at twice - and once you notice something like that, you can't stop.

Now Priya's stuck with Jonah (who takes Fernbrook's hundred years of history a little too personally) and Dez (who narrates the whole investigation like a true-crime podcast) - and a case that keeps getting bigger. Because the missing Founders' Cup isn't really about the trophy. It's about a name that got quietly left out of Fernbrook's official story a hundred years ago, and a woman who's been trying to fix that ever since.

The Fernbrook Mysteries: The Founders' Cup is a fair-play mystery - every clue Priya finds, you find too. Readers who've solved along with Encyclopedia Brown and outgrown easier mysteries will find a real puzzle here, alongside a found-family crew worth rereading.

Inside this book:

• A real, solvable mystery with every clue on the page - no twist the reader couldn't have caught
• A found-family detective trio with distinct, specific voices
• A hand-drawn map of Fernbrook, so readers can follow the case alongside Priya
• A small-town setting with a real emotional core: belonging, being new, and what it costs to let people in
• Adventure set pieces alongside the puzzle-solving - a storm-chased bike ride, a festival obstacle course, a close call in the dark
• Book 1 of a planned 3-book series

Perfect for readers 8-12 who've outgrown lighter chapter-book mysteries and want something with a real puzzle to crack, a crew worth rooting for, and a mystery that means something once it's solved.