Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty?: And Other Notorious Nursery Tale Mysteries

“There are eight million stories in the forest. This is one of them,” announces bullfrog Binky, the plainclothes cop who investigates situations like Humpty Dumpty’s demise and a witch’s disappearance in “Hansel and Gretel.” Binky starts his day with a call from Mrs. Bear, reporting a robbery. Once Goldilocks confesses, Binky unsentimentally reports, “They’ll feed her three meals a day where she’s going.” Another incident involves “that sweet girl who cleaned for the Seven Dwarfs.... Boy, what a knockout!” When Snow White is poisoned, suspicion falls on the royal judge of a beauty pageant. Following each procedural, a red “case closed” stamp appears across a picture of the jailed or handcuffed culprit. Levinthal, best known for his photography, nails the tone of the Dragnet-style escapades that make up his picture book debut, and Nickle’s (Hans My Hedgehog) obsessively detailed acrylics have a sinister edge that suits the mood. His panels are somewhat awkwardly framed in unadorned borders, and the no-frills, sans-serif typeface does little to complement the images or deadpan narration, but readers should still be tickled by these noirish retellings. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)