Detective LB and Hopper: The Case of the Missing Chocolate Frogs
Janey Gaston and Anil Tortop
Little Steps Publishing

It’s hard to resist a picture book with chocolate in the title especially when the cover’s as alluring as that drawn by Anil Tortop.

Meet Detective LB, a ladybird mystery lover and her best friend and side-kick Hopper, a lively, sometimes overly sugar-fuelled bunny with a special skill at solving mysteries. Clearly a well-matched duo and on the Tuesday in question, they’re both fired up and ready for a new case, so are thrilled when there’s a loud banging on the door signalling somebody outside with a mystery that needs solving.

In comes Mr Poppy (cat) owner of Poppycat Candy Company announcing that he suspects someone is stealing his packages of ‘extra-special, extra-yummy chocolate frogs’ destined for his Grandma Rose which, for the last couple of weeks, have failed to arrive.

So, who has been stealing said items; comic book addict Hopper, and LB, are on the case immediately; the enterprising two must amass information and search for clues in order to crack this tasty case. Perhaps Hopper’s penchant for superheroes can be utilised;

and maybe the thief has a motive that just might be a mitigating cause.

A pacy, full of fun adventure and with Anil Tortop’s comical scenes of animated animals and chocolatey clues, highly entertaining with a not very subtle message about owning up to one’s errors.