The Kidectives: The Mystery of the Missing Boy

By Barry Dean

A group of teenagers that have been given inexplicable powers to help them to act as detectives, solving mysteries and crimes together.

Adam (The Ears), and his sister Georgia (The Legs), are assisted by their best friends Nathan (The Eyes) and Jamie (The Brain) after receiving their special super powers in a strange storm.

They are soon called on to use their new found powers to find their new friend Tommy (The Nose) who can sniff out key clues to solve criminal activities, and so he becomes the fifth member of this dynamic team of intrepid detectives.

Follow their story, to find out how they use their powers and help the police to solve a host of crimes in and around their home in Farm Hill.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Mar 28, 2024
• ISBN: 9781035842858

Barry Dean

Barry Dean was born and raised as the third child in a family of four in Cambridge. He lived by the River Cam in the heart of the city, attending local schools and then going on to college to study Electronics in pursuit of a career in this up-and-coming industry. His parents were not affluent. They had to take in lodgers, and his mother, Joyce, often cooked ‘lunch’ for local workers to make ends meet. In fact, his father, Jack, took on two jobs; as a wireman by day and a waiter at Jesus College in the evenings. This meant Barry barely saw his father during the week and only briefly at weekends. Barry has been married to Maureen for nearly 40 years and has two grown-up sons, Adam and Nathan. When they got married, they moved to the nearby Bar Hill village and have been active members of village life as their sons grew up. One of Barry’s passions is football. He was an avid fan of Cambridge United, even acting as a programme seller for the club for many years. However, his love of supporting his local team was soon overtaken following the birth of his first son. Barry soon took on the mantle of football coach for his local village youth teams. He coached children’s football for over 20 years, ran three youth teams, and eventually managed two adult teams once his children grew up. He also ran the village table tennis club for three years, quadrupling its participants during that time. Not content with this, Barry also became a member of the local Parish Council but had to resign after just over a year due to work and other sporting commitments. His other big passion is Lego. As well as a bedroom full of models, he also supports the ‘First Lego League’, acting as a coach and mentor at local schools, and refereeing and supporting the competitions in Peterborough, Cambridge, and Bristol. Now, Barry spends as much spare time as he can with his two grandsons, Jamie and Tommy, playing games and just generally having fun. They can often be spotted on a bridge somewhere above a stream, playing ‘Pooh-Sticks’. Barry retired in 2020 and now spends much of his time painting, making models, and generally doing all sorts of odd jobs around his home and static caravan, which he secured just an hour and a half from home some seven years ago. Retirement has finally given Barry the opportunity to become an author, which has been on his ‘to-do’ list for many years but was never completed due to work and other commitments. Additionally, he has taken on the role of trustee and volunteer for his local village charity, the Bar Hill Community Association, which provides a wide range of activities and support for the village and surrounding area.

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About the Author

Barry Dean was born and raised as the third child in a family of four in Cambridge. He lived by the River Cam in the heart of the city, attending local schools and then going on to college to study Electronics in pursuit of a career in this up-and-coming industry. His parents were not affluent. They had to take in lodgers, and his mother, Joyce, often cooked ‘lunch’ for local workers to make ends meet. In fact, his father, Jack, took on two jobs; as a wireman by day and a waiter at Jesus College in the evenings. This meant Barry barely saw his father during the week and only briefly at weekends. Barry has been married to Maureen for nearly 40 years and has two grown-up sons, Adam and Nathan. When they got married, they moved to the nearby Bar Hill village and have been active members of village life as their sons grew up.

One of Barry’s passions is football. He was an avid fan of Cambridge United, even acting as a programme seller for the club for many years. However, his love of supporting his local team was soon overtaken following the birth of his first son. Barry soon took on the mantle of football coach for his local village youth teams. He coached children’s football for over 20 years, ran three youth teams, and eventually managed two adult teams once his children grew up. He also ran the village table tennis club for three years, quadrupling its participants during that time. Not content with this, Barry also became a member of the local Parish Council but had to resign after just over a year due to work and other sporting commitments.

His other big passion is Lego. As well as a bedroom full of models, he also supports the ‘First Lego League’, acting as a coach and mentor at local schools, and refereeing and supporting the competitions in Peterborough, Cambridge, and Bristol. Now, Barry spends as much spare time as he can with his two grandsons, Jamie and Tommy, playing games and just generally having fun. They can often be spotted on a bridge somewhere above a stream, playing ‘Pooh-Sticks’. Barry retired in 2020 and now spends much of his time painting, making models, and generally doing all sorts of odd jobs around his home and static caravan, which he secured just an hour and a half from home some seven years ago. Retirement has finally given Barry the opportunity to become an author, which has been on his ‘to-do’ list for many years but was never completed due to work and other commitments. Additionally, he has taken on the role of trustee and volunteer for his local village charity, the Bar Hill Community Association, which provides a wide range of activities and support for the village and surrounding area.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my wonderful family. Maureen, my wife, who gives me the time and all the support I need to spend time writing; to my wonderful sons, Adam and Nathan, who fill me with pride in seeing how they have grown into truly wonderful people; to Georgia, Nathan’s partner, who has made him so happy; and to my grandsons, Jamie and Tommy, who have completed our family…to date!

Copyright Information ©

Barry Dean 2024

The right of Barry Dean to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781035842841 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781035842858 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2024

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

1 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5AA

Acknowledgement

Thank you to my family for supporting me in the writing of this book, particularly my wife, Maureen, who encourages me to persevere and supports me financially, even when I feel it might be time to give up.

I’d also like to thank all my friends who have given me experiences throughout my life that spark ideas for my writing.

Foreword

Since retiring, Barry Dean has remained active. The publication of his first book, ‘Leak Testing Made Easy’, represents the pinnacle of his life’s work as one of the leading experts in the industry, specialising in component and assembly leak testing. He’s proficient in a wide range of techniques, from looking for bubbles underwater to the highly technical field of using helium in vacuum leak test systems.

This ignited his passion for writing, and he soon undertook the challenge of crafting a story that could captivate both young and old. This endeavour resulted in the book you’re holding, the first in a trilogy about teenagers with unique abilities that aid them in solving crimes and mysteries in their quaint village of ‘Bridgecombe’.

The children from two families bond after realising they’ve acquired unique powers following a peculiar storm. This storm heightened their sensory abilities, and one child began having mystical dreams. Remarkably, the others can link these dreams to their newfound powers. Aided by one boy’s sister, who possesses super speed, they piece together their collective abilities to form a clearer picture.

The group is soon joined by a newcomer to the village, who experienced a similar storm miles