To Catch a Crook

Gabby decides that she will become a private eye and solve a mystery or two before Career Day at her school. At first, there are no crises for her to look into, but one day her fortunes improve: her neighbors are plagued by a series of disappearances. Solving mysteries is harder than Gabby had anticipated, but she sticks to her plan and discovers that a schoolmate who wants to be an inventor has created a robot from the ``found'' objects. This mild, minor story has a friendly writing style, and the neighborhood scenes are snug. But all the elementsfrom the Career Day premise to the hoopla over the stolen itemsare stagily presented, and most of the action just lays on the page. Ages 7-11. (April)