Gretel and the Missing Frog Prints: A Brothers Grimm Mystery

Bestseller Brackston (The Witch’s Daughter) 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. When a messenger from Nuremberg dies after delivering a plea to Gretel for her services on behalf of another party, lawman Kapitan Strudel suspects Gretel of his murder, and sister and brother flee to Nuremberg. There Gretel discovers that priceless prints depicting frogs, created by client Albrecht Durer the Much Much Younger’s famous relative, have been stolen. A kinky art collector is killed, and Durer’s greedy nephew is suspected before Gretel can identify the perpetrators of both crimes. Along the way, talking mice and hobgoblins share clues, the world’s largest sausage explodes, and famous fairy tale characters make amusing cameo appearances. [em]Agent: Kate Hordern, Kate Hordern Literary Agency. (Feb.) [/em]