The Manduca Case (Irvin Vella, Virtual Investigator Book 1)

By John Bonello

A detective novel for children 9 to 99, full of adventure and mystery.

Young Irvin Vella is an aspiring Private Investigator, looking for odd cases to solve and hone his detecting skills. In this fast-paced first novel in the series, Irvin is asked to help two rich old ladies who are in trouble. The old mansion where they live is haunted and they have been threatened by a ghost. With the help of his twin 11 year old cousins, Irvin attempts to unravel the mystery of Villa Manduca. But it will not be easy, as he has a full panel of suspects to check out.

Originally written in Maltese, The Manduca Case won the Malta National Book Prize award in 2016.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Bonello
• Release date: Jan 2, 2018
• ISBN: 9789995711030

John Bonello

John A. Bonello is the author of the fantasy trilogy for young adults Il-Logħba tal-Allat (The Game of the Gods), the duology for adults Unus Mundus and the series of detective novels for children Irvin Vella, Virtual Investigator. He won the Malta National Book Award five times. He lives in his grandfather’s house, in the remote village of Dingli, on the island of Malta.

Book preview

Prologue – Three months before in Villa Manduca

The window opened inwards with a loud bang and a strong wind filled the room, carrying with it a shower of ice-cold rain. The candle in Rita’s hand went out. She whimpered and in the darkness searched for her sister Domenica’s hand, cowering beside her. The pattering of the rain against the other windowpanes seemed to increase now that they found themselves in total darkness. A bright flash of lightning lighted up the whole room for a brief moment, enough to cast strange long shadows in the old sisters’ eyes. Domenica started mumbling a quick prayer. Rita was too afraid to do anything.

The voice that had called them to that room as soon as the electricity went out echoed again, this time louder and closer.

Riiitaaaa! Domeeeniiicaaaa!

The old women screamed.

Whhhoo...who’s there? Whhhooo...whhoo are you? Rita asked with a broken voice.

There was no reply. Instead, little bright lights flashed in the corridor outside the room. On, off and again. They heard the sound of muffled footsteps scuttling away.

Riiiitaaa! Domeeeniiicaaaa!

Again, the same deep rumbling voice, as if it was the angry wind calling them. More rain came in through the open window, drenching the sisters, standing there incapable of doing anything.

A loud noise. So loud their hearts skipped a beat. The unlit candle fell from Rita’s limp hand and rolled onto the wet floor.

1 ELEONORA PSAILA

The driver stopped the taxi directly in front of Irvin Vella’s office in Attard. Eleonora climbed down with the help of the driver and thanked him. She had already paid for the trip.

You can leave me here, as I’m not sure how long this will take. I’ll call you when I’m done, she told him. She knew the driver well–she always called him when she needed to go somewhere, which was practically every week. On his part, the driver offered her the best possible service since she was one of his best clients. He even sent one of his colleagues whenever he could not pick her up himself.

Call whenever you need me, he told her as he helped her onto the pavement.

Eleonora, a seventy one year old woman, widowed for the past twenty-one years, let the driver walk her to the door of the office. She thanked him once more and waited until he went back to his taxi and drove off. The help he had offered was very welcome. Her legs were not what they had once been.

She took a few moments to catch her breath while giving a look at the metal door of the garage. By the smell of the light grey paint she could tell that the work on the office was quite recent. She rang the doorbell fixed to the wall, underneath a bronze doorplate that read ‘Irvin Vella, Virtual Investigator’ in big bold black letters.

After a few seconds, a small door within the larger frame came ajar, and she glimpsed the familiar rounded face that had been of so much help less than a month before. He recognised her immediately and opened the door all the way.

Mrs Psaila! I’m delighted to see you again. Come in, come in.

Eleonora walked inside and Irvin closed the door behind them. It was her first visit to his new office. A month before she had called him after finding a small advert in the newspaper and he had gone to her house himself.

Irvin’s new office was quite a cosy place, a bit shabby, but cosy all the same. He showed her inside to the far end and invited her to sit on one of two cane armchairs that looked too low for her liking.

Would you like something to drink Mrs Psaila?

A glass of still water please. And call me Eleonora. It’s the name my mother gave me, she finished with a smile.

Irvin walked to a sideboard from where he filled a glass with water, then returned and sat down in the other armchair. The cane squealed and protested under his weight. She could see that although the armchair was quite wide, he barely fit in it.

So, how may I help you this time Mrs Eleonora? Is it Gusto again?

She laughed. Gusto was Mrs Eleonora’s cat. With the help of his twin cousins, Luca and Laura, Irvin had managed to rescue the cat after Gusto was stolen by a jealous neighbour.

No, no don’t worry, Gusto is safe, basting in the sun in the conservatory. This time I came here on behalf of two close friends. Or to put it better, I came here to see if you can help them–they don’t know I have sought your aid yet. If you decide to take on the job I will go and try to convince them to speak to you.

Let me see if I get this right. You have two friends who need help. And you came to me to see if I can help them without their knowledge?

Exactly. You see, they are extremely reserved people.

And what kind of help would they need?

Eleonora rummaged around in her handbag until she took out a small brown envelope. From within this she took out a piece of folded yellowish paper and placed it in Irvin’s hand.

The young investigator opened it and took a moment to read the message within. It was written with letters cut out from some old newspaper. She waited as he read it twice, then a third time, going slowly over every word. At last he looked at her.

This is clearly a letter of intimidation. Why didn’t they go to the police with this? he asked.

They couldn’t. Or wouldn’t. The way they got that letter, and some other recent events that happened to them were, what’s the word, out of the ordinary. They don’t wish to involve the police in this as they don’t believe that the authorities can help them.

For a long moment, Irvin stared at her, his face showing complete incomprehension.

Could you explain more? This letter says that the Manducas have until midnight of next Monday to get out of the villa. Why this particular date? he asked at last.

Look Irvin, myself I’m not entirely sure what’s going on in there. Both sisters are very secretive about the whole business. And although they’re my best friends, I don’t feel comfortable to pry in their affairs. I came to you because I am extremely concerned about them and their safety. I know only what I’ve told you so far, and I managed to learn about the letter by pure chance. They mentioned it while we were having tea and after some insistence from my part they showed it to me. Later I asked them if I could keep it for a little while and here I am. Eleonora took a sip of water, then went on. Would you be interested in helping them? Perhaps they would be willing to tell you the whole story. If you agree, I could go to them immediately and convince them to meet you.

Irvin took his time to think about the proposal, reading the letter again, while Eleonora quietly sipped the water. In the end, he agreed to meet the Manducas. Eleonora was really happy at this and asked if she could use his telephone from which she called the taxi.

Wait for my call, she told Irvin on her way out.

2 Irvin Vella’s diary - Wednesday 18 March, entry #01

A ray of sunlight was coming