Cyber-Bookshelf: Digital Detectives Series
Running Press, www.runningpress.com
Digital Detectives is a series of mystery books for kids that combines reading with the Internet. The books are designed to be used in conjunction with the publisher's online Crime Lab, allowing kids to solve the crime in each book by using the latest in technology to investigate the crime scenes, interrogate witnesses and jot down notes in a journal. Three titles are included in the series so far: The Case of the Killer Bugs, When Nightmares Come True and The Scent of Crime.
In the first installment, the reader must figure out who is selling pirated copies of the smash-hit game Insect Invaders, which seems to have a voracious appetite for kids' computers. Digital detectives in the second book enter the realm of the supernatural, as a surfer turns up missing, ghosts are spotted on a bluff and rumors of buried treasure abound. In the last book, digital detectives are put on the scent of a canine-napper. Dogs are being abducted right before the big county dog show. Meanwhile, a biotech laboratory is conducting genetic experiments on canines. Is there a connection? Running Press, Philadelphia, PA, www.runningpress.com.
This article originally appeared in the 04/01/2002 issue of THE Journal.