Best friends Maya and Jerry use their superior sleuthing skills to crack cases that stump police in The Whodunit Detective Agency, a chapter book series written by Swedish author Martin Widmark and illustrated by Helena Willis. First launched in Sweden in 2002, the series has been translated into nearly 30 languages, has sold more than 3.5 million copies worldwide, and has been adapted for TV and two films in Sweden. In 2012, Stockholm-based publisher Bonnier Carlsen began rereleasing The Whodunit Detective Agency with newly colorized art. The series made its American debut earlier this month, when Grosset & Dunlap published full-color translations of the first two titles, The Diamond Mystery and The Hotel Mystery, in simultaneous hardcover and paperback editions. The Circus Mystery and The Café Mystery are due in January, with The Mummy Mystery to follow in May and three more titles in 2016.

Hailed as “the children’s Agatha Christie” by Swedish newspaper Helsingborgs Dagblad, Widmark is considered a literary giant of contemporary children’s fiction in his homeland. His series, published as Detektivbüro LasseMaja in Sweden, has topped bestseller lists in that country for several years. The author’s earlier career as a middle-school teacher provided a useful foundation for his writing. “A teacher is always trying to find the right way to explain and explore a subject for and with the students,” he told PW. “It is the same in writing books. I keep reminding myself never to forget who I write for. It is like walking in a park with an eight-year-old child. You can’t suddenly lose yourself and forget who you are talking to.”

Widmark said he had several goals in mind when he initially conceived of The Whodunit Detective Agency. “I wanted to write books that are accessible to all readers,” he explained. “But at the same time, I really wanted to challenge the brains of my readers. So my aim was, easy to read – but not easy to solve.”

Set in what Widmark described as “a very framed universe in a little town called Pleasant Valley,” the mysteries “stick to a certain pattern,” he said, to accommodate beginning readers. The author noted that he had some fun with the series’ adult characters, whom he labeled “kind of light-crazy. Every character is slightly exaggerated, as I saw the adult world when I was a child myself. I let the adults bloom out fully: if you are angry, you jump with fury. If you are in love, you blush beautifully.”

Crossing the Atlantic

The series’ humor immediately appealed to Sarah Fabiny, editor-in-chief of licenses and series for Grosset & Dunlap and Price Stern Sloan, who acquired North American rights to the first eight Whodunit Detective Agency titles and edits the series. “The books are pacey, fun, and funny,” she said. “And since there is a boy and a girl protagonist, we knew the stories would appeal to both girls and boys. These are great friendship stories as well as mysteries. Readers who are observant can pick up on clues and crack the case along with the characters.”

Fabiny was also impressed by the look of the series. “They are quite quirky and fun,” she said, “with almost a cartoon style. These are nice transition books for children just starting to read on their own, and the art helps hook kids immediately and keep them reading. This series is a great addition to the Grosset list – it’s unlike anything else we have at the moment.”

Widmark, who has written 50 books in addition to 24 Whodunit Detective Agency titles, has taken some time off from writing during the past two years while overseeing a reading program that he founded in his country. “We have big problems with reading comprehension in Sweden, and I have supplied all schools from grades 1 to 6 with a free curriculum and 800 free texts that schools can copy and work with,” he explained.

But it appears that there may well be more mysteries ahead for young sleuths Maya and Jerry to solve. “Since it is only getting nicer and nicer writing these books, I really don’t foresee the end of this series,” Widmark said. And is he pleased that young American readers will be introduced to his books for the first time? “Very much so,” he replied. “It feels wonderful to ‘give back’ a little to U.S., which has supplied us in Europe with so much cultural influence in the last 70 years.”

The Whodunit Detective Agency, Book I: The Diamond Mystery by Martin Widmark, trans. by Julie Martin, illus. by Helena Willis. Grosset & Dunlap, $13.99 Oct. ISBN 978-0-448-48067-1; paper $5.99 ISBN 978-0-448-48066-4

The Whodunit Detective Agency, Book 2: The Hotel Mystery by Martin Widmark, trans. by Julie Martin, illus. by Helena Willis. Grosset & Dunlap, $13.99 Oct. ISBN 978-0-448-48069-5; paper, $5.99 ISBN 978-0-448-40868-8