The Pasta Detectives

This is a quirky and entertaining read. Translated from German, it is the story of two misfit boys who find friendship as they set out to solve a very unusual mystery.

The reader is drawn in right from the start, when the narrator Rico is intrigued to find a small piece of pasta on the pavement. This leads him to uncover the truth behind all manner of strange goings-on in his neighbourhood, including a local kidnapping plot.  Rico is mildly autistic and his friend Oscar is gifted and anxiety-ridden, and both are enormously likable.

Any young reader will fall in love with this unusual book and with Rico’s charming and witty observations of the world. It is a very accessible and light-hearted story, which should appeal to a very wide audience.