Move over, Sherlock Holmes; girl detective Amanda Dagger is on her first case. Using brilliant logic and powerful observation, Amanda sets out to find a friend’s scrimshaw medallion, which has mysteriously disappeared. She teams up with Freddy Dash, the class clown and detention pro, and the friends uncover more than they bargain for. Shattered glass, a runaway truck, and a near drowning leave the young sleuths wondering why someone is trying to scare them away from the medallion— and from uncovering the truth.

Amanda and Freddy have a common interest in history, which leads them to a notable local landmark, the Old Stone House. Joined by Freddy’s tagalong brother Todd and their quirky classmate Brook Winter, the group decides to make it their summer hangout. But strange things seem to be happening on the grounds of the home. Once owned by wealthy ivory merchants, the eerie house has a disturbing past. When Todd is dragged violently underwater while swimming nearby, and a delivery truck nearly collides with the friends, Amanda realizes someone is sending them a message: keep away.

Determined to find the medallion, Amanda and Freddy search the house and discover priceless ivory relics have been stolen. Amanda must learn to trust her instincts to uncover the horrible secrets hidden inside these stone walls—and discover what might soon turn a thief into a killer.

I, Freddy Dash, was supposed to be solving a word problem in math class, but instead I was staring out the classroom window and daydreaming about my three favorite things—swimming, biking and playing baseball. I heard the teacher clear her throat as she sat at her desk correcting papers, and that reminded me I should be concentrating on my work. Jeff has ½ pizza left in the fridge. At breakfast he ate 1/3 of it. What fraction of the original pizza does he have left for lunch? Huh? First of all, in my family we never have any pizza left at all, let alone half. Secondly, I don’t know who this Jeff guy is, but why was he eating pizza for breakfast anyway? My mom would never let me do that. I scowled and began doodling a baseball diamond at the top of the paper. I wasn’t very good at math. The only way to get through this class, I decided, was to daydream, and once again I found myself in the middle of my favorite.
I was coming up to bat in the championship game, my team, the Riverbend Ravens, against our rivals, the Shipley Schooners. I could hear the play-by-play announcer’s call running through my head. And we go to the top of second. It will be the dangerous Freddy Dash approaching the box as the Riverbend Ravens try to draw even with the Shipley Schooners who are up two to nothing. Runners at first and second. Dash leads the Ravens in base hits and home runs, and now here he comes—Dash, a lefty with an open stance, points the bat out towards the pitcher, Dash stares out at him, and dangles the bat over his left shoulder as the crowd grows silent… Here’s the first pitch—Dash swings—and it’s a hard drive deep into right field. Ladies and gentlemen—we have lift off! That ball is gone! The crowd is on their feet chanting Fred-dy, Fred-dy, Fred-dy!

Peggy Schaedler taught high school and middle school English for over twenty years. She is now an elementary school librarian where she continues reading with her students and encouraging a love of literature. She loves reading mysteries and was inspired to write this new series based on her experiences with children who love action, humor, and adventure. She currently lives with her husband, two dogs, and two cats in Connecticut.