The Man in the Moonstone — Melanie Jackson

Dinah Galloway, fresh from her adventures with spies and bucktooth burglars, is back in a hilarious new adventure. Chosen for a lead role in the musical version of Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone, eleven-year-old Dinah--amateur detective, budding singer and unabashed owner of a huge appetite--is once again embroiled in a mystery that puts her in peril and offers plenty of opportunities for humor and good food. When Dinah wins the part of Coretta Cuff, a singing detective, in an adaptation of what many consider the first detective novel, she finds that all is not as it seems around the theater. The producer, trying to unload a bunch of knockoffs of his priceless ring--the famed Murdock Moonstone--has orchestrated a publicity stunt with the actual ring in attendance on opening night. Dinah is convinced that there is a plot to steal the gem. Armed with her freckled nose for mystery and her unerring sense of right and wrong, Dinah attempts to uncover the culprit before the curtain rises. Assisted by her long-suffering friend and ardent tree-lover, Pantelli, and her over-protective, glamorous older sister Madge, Dinah brings down the house in this second installment of the Dinah Galloway mystery series.