From New York Times bestselling author P. J. Brackston comes the prequel to Gretel and the Case of the Missing Frog Prints.
Gretel—yes, that Gretel—is now thirty-five, very large, still living with her brother Hans, and working as a private investigator.
The small, sleepy town of Gesternstadt is shaken to its pretty foundations when the workshop of the local cart maker is burnt to the ground and a body is discovered in the ashes. It is Gretel who notices that the cadaver is missing a finger. At first she does not see this as significant, as her mind is fully focused on a new case. Not that she doesn’t want to investigate an intriguing murder, but her client is willing to pay over the odds, so she must content herself with trying to trace three missing cats. It is not until she is further into her investigations that she realizes the two events are inextricably and dangerously connected, and that the mystery of the missing cats will lead her into perilous situations and frightening company.
Gretel soon finds herself accused of kidnapping Princess Charlotte, locked up in the cells at the Summer Schloss, repelling the advances of an amorous troll, strapped to a rack in Herr Schmerz’s torture chamber, and fleeing a murder charge. With dubious help from her brother (whose scant wits are habitually addled by drink), she must prove her innocence, solve the puzzle of the unidentified corpse, and find the stolen cats before they meet a grisly end.
“Love of landscape and lyrical writing lend charm, but it’s Brackston’s full-blooded storytelling that will hook the reader.”—Kirkus Reviews on The Winter Witch
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Witch’s Daughter comes the story of Gretel, all grown up and investigating the disappearance of Albrecht Dürer’s treasured frog prints.
Bavaria, 1776. When Albrecht Dürer the Much Much Younger’s frog prints go missing, he knows exactly where to turn for help. Gretel (yes, that Gretel), now thirty-five and still living with her gluttonous brother Hans, is the country’s most famous private investigator, and she leaps at the opportunity to travel to cosmopolitan Nuremberg to take on the case. But amid the hubbub of the city’s annual sausage festival, Gretel struggles to find any clues that point toward the elusive thief.
Even with the aid of the chatty mice living under her bed, the absent prints remain stubbornly out of view, and Gretel is forced to get creative in her search for the truth.
“Bestseller Brackston melds folktale whimsy with a sardonic adult voice in the rollicking first of a new series set in 1776 Bavaria. Gretel, now grown up and living with witless older brother Hans in provincial Gesternstadt, funds her love of fine things by working as a private detective…Along the way, talking mice and hobgoblins share clues, the world’s largest sausage explodes, and famous fairy tale characters make amusing cameo appearances.”—Publishers Weekly
