Book Overview

Counterfeit Detectives

by David Krumboltz & Mary Dixon

Synopsis

Early evening on a warm Iowa summer day, a well respected antique dealer, Peter Ladron, is closing up his store for the night. He drives to his nearby warehouse where two reluctant, and unlucky small-time criminals are employed. While Jake and Lefty work on antique furniture, their prime assignment is to get an old press working and to print up counterfeit money. They are ordered to bring a sample to the antiques dealer’s house for inspection. Later that evening, putting the sample bills in a wooden box, Jake and Lefty drive to their boss’s house, but due to a damaged rear door on Jake’s old Chevy, the box slides out of the car.

About the same time, Scooter, age ten and his sister Mary, age 12 while out playing, discover a wooden box lying in the street near their house. The box has a stack of twenty-dollar bills. Not knowing what to do, they close the box and run home to get their dad, but by the time the three of them return, the box has disappeared. Dad thinks the kids are trying to pull another prank on him and doesn’t buy their story. Later, Mary shows Scooter a twenty-dollar bill she slipped out of the box. The kids agree not to tell their father about it since he would probably not believe their explanation, plus it was stealing.

The following night, Scooter, Mary and their neighborhood friends are playing a spirited game of kick-the-can. Spotted as they hide near a basement window of the antique dealer’s home, they are pursued by the counterfeiters who incorrectly believe their phony money was discovered by the children through a basement window. Jake and Lefty are ordered to track down the nosey kids to find out what they know. Meanwhile, Scooter, who knows about cars, looks for a mysterious old Chevy he saw driving with no lights the night the wooden box disappeared.

Scooter and Mary question a neighbor who also remembers the car and two men. The car sometimes parks near a mysterious house owned by the two peculiar old Paura sisters. Scooter sees one of the women carry a box to her carriage house. Mother tells Mary one of the women was very talented in the art of engraving.

Counterfeiting never enters the minds of the young investigators, until Russell, the smartest teenager in the neighborhood inspects the bill more closely. But this one piece of evidence the two kids have to show their father eludes them again. At dinner one night, Dad, the city’s prosecutor, tells of a meeting with the Mayor regarding potential counterfeit activity in the area. He tells the two children not to discuss this with their friends.

More certain than ever, Scooter and Mary decide they must inspect the Paura carriage house and but they get caught by the two eccentric women.

Follow this mystery to its surprising conclusion and these two young detectives experience danger, daring, and humor to solve a case that had the professionals baffled.

Approximately 50,000 words (137 pages)