Mystery of the Roman Ransom

A quartet of novels by German author Henry Winterfeld comes to light once more. Detectives in Togas (1956), illus. by Charlotte Kleinert, trans. by Richard and Clara Winston, is set in ancient Rome and stars young Rufus, guilty of insulting his classmate Caius, but not of all the other crimes attributed to him; it's up to his friends to track down the truth. In the sequel, Mystery of the Roman Ransom (1971), illus. by Fritz Biermann, trans. by Edith McCormick, Rufus and company present their teacher with a servant on his birthday but, as it turns out, the man is really a courier with a message requesting the murder of one boy's father, a Roman senator. PW called Detectives ""delightful and witty"" and said of Mystery, ""Glorious fun abounds on each page, making this a most welcome sequel indeed."" Castaways in Lilliput (1960) and Trouble at Timpetill (1965), both illus. by William M. Hutchinson and trans. by Kyrill Schabert, star friends Jim, Peggy and Ralph. In the first, the three are relieved when they drift ashore on a tiny island after hours at sea on a rubber raft, and soon discover the miniature people who live there. How can the islanders possibly help the trio get back home? In Trouble, the children of Timpetill are so bad that the adults skip town. It's fun at first, but it gets a lot harder when they have to fight the gang that started the trouble.