In a city where candy is a crime and sugar is scandalous, Nelle Faulkner is a 12-year-old private detective swept up in a sinister underworld of sweets smugglers. A new hit middle grade noir from World Fantasy Award-winning author Lavie Tidhar
★ "It won't take a detective to spot Willie Wonka, as well as Sam Spade, hidden in the tongue-in-cheek caper's literary DNA." ―Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
When notorious candy gangster Eddie de Menthe asks for her help to find a missing teddy bear, Nelle Faulkner is on the case. But as soon as the teddy turns up, Eddie himself goes missing As a seemingly innocent investigation unravels into something more ominous, Nelle and her friends quickly find themselves swept up in a shady underworld of sweets smugglers, back alley deals, and storefront firebombs.
If Nelle has any hope of tracking down her missing client, first she'll have to unmask the true faces behind the smuggling ring. Can Nelle and her friends find a way to take the cake? Or will they come to a sticky end...?
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meets Bugsy Malone in this page-turning mystery from World Fantasy Award-winning author Lavie Tidhar. With moody illustrations by Daniel Duncan, readers will be sucked into the action-packed narrative as Nelle pulls the curtain back on black-market candy rings.