Donald R. Dungbeetle

By Terri Jo Wheeler

Children's Mystery with Insect Characters

• Language: English
• Publisher: Terri Jo Wheeler
• Release date: Jan 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781935993216

Book preview

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CHAPTER ONE

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THE CRIME

Donald R. Dungbeetle cautiously raised his head from the small dirt hill he was hiding behind. Ahh, the coast is clear, he thought. That was close, too close for comfort for him. There was no doubt in his mind . . . Willie Waterbug had deliberately tried to stop him. He would have succeeded too, if Sammy Sparrow hadn’t flown by and dropped a dirt bomb on Willie’s poison arrow aimed directly at Donald’s unsuspecting back.

Though Willie Water bug was nowhere in sight, Donald took the back roads anyway to his comfortable bachelor style sand hill on a mound overlooking the city of Odonata. Relaxing in a mud bath, he reviewed the events of the past couple of days.

Last Tuesday, Millionaires Paula Praying Mantis called frantically from her mega mansion on the far north side. Apparently her diamond drawer (which was the size of an armored car) had been robbed and the precious and priceless diamond Mantis cuffs and tiara were gone. Now, these were heirlooms passed down through two generations of the Mantis family, made from the very first diamonds discovered back in 1816 by old man Mendelssohn Mantis, Paula’s grandfather, who developed the mine that had been accidentally discovered on the Mantis property. Donald, a self-proclaimed (that is, self-employed) private detective was a friend of the family, so when Paula called, he took the opportunity to investigate the situation. Upon first inspection, the crime seemed clueless . . . no sign of forced entry, no insect prints, and the combination lock had not been forced. But Donald knew that where there was a crime, there was always a clue. He also knew he would have to tread lightly because of the suspicious and very nervous way Paula was acting, not to mention the attempt to stop him by Willie.

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Donald decided to call his good buddy George Grasshopper, the Chief of Police at the Odonata Police Department. The tough but fair chief of the Special Crimes unit at O.P.D. used to be Donald’s boss, but two years ago, Donald was shuttled off to a desk job after bungling a case with his unusual and sometimes clumsy detective techniques. It was then that Donald decided to take an early retirement and go it alone.

The case had involved the robbery of a toy store owned (coincidentally) by the Mantis family. When Donald attempted a routine stake out, young Timmy Termite, anxious to help,