A New A Mickey Rangel Mystery

The Lemon Tree Caper: A Mickey Rangel Mystery / 

La intriga del limonero: Colección Mickey Rangel, detective privado.

By Rene Saldana  Jr. 

Mickey Rangel, kid detective extraordinaire, has just exited the school bus one sweltering afternoon when he hears a blood-curdling shriek. It's coming from the creepy neighbor lady's house. Señorita Andrade, known as La Bruja Andrade to all the neighborhood kids, is as old as the moon, wrinkled like a prune, and smells like moth balls. But she's in trouble, so Mickey forgoes the cool, refreshing glass of lemonade he planned to buy from Tina s stand and instead goes to help the supposed witch.

"My lemons, Mickey, my prize-winning lemons. They're gone. They re all gone," Señorita Andrade cries. The tree was covered with fruit just that morning, but Mickey can see that it s true: there's not one lemon on the tree. She is famous for her lemons. One of the reasons everyone thinks the woman is a witch is because she somehow manages to keep lemons on the tree year round. And for years she has won first prize in the annual Lemon Festival and Lowrider Bicycle Show. In the lemon category that is, not the bikes. 

Who could have removed several sacks full of lemons? Was it only a coincidence that Tina had set up a lemonade stand just down the street? With a bowl full of lemons sitting right out front? Or could it have been someone trying to sabotage Señorita Andrade's entry in the upcoming festival dedicated to the savory fruit? " I'll get to the bottom of this, ma'am. Mickey Rangel is on the case."

In this second bilingual book in The Mickey Rangel Mystery series for intermediate readers, author and educator René Saldaña, Jr. has crafted another engaging book for kids, and his wise-cracking, smart protagonist will appeal to even the most reluctant readers.

About the Author

René Saldañar Jr. is the author of A Good Long Way (Piñata Books, 2010), The Case of the Pen Gone Missing / El caso de la pluma perdida (Piñata Books, 2009), The Whole Sky Full of Stars (Random House, 2007), The Jumping Tree (Delacorte, 2001) and Finding Our Way: Stories (Random House, 2003). He lives in Lubbock, Texas, where he teaches in the College of Education at Texas Tech University.

Don't Miss the First Mystery

Case of the Pen Gone Missing: A Mickey Rangel Mystery / 

El caso de La pluma perdida: Colección Mickey Rangel, detective privado

When Toots Rodríguez approaches Mickey on the playground, he knows something is up. Toots, the prettiest girl in the fifth grade, never talks to Mickey, not even when they’re assigned to work together on a class project. But Toots has come to Mickey because she’s in trouble, and he’s a detective. The real deal. He has a badge and a certificate after completing an online course two years ago.    

“You have to believe me, Mickey. I didn’t take that pen. I didn’t.” When Toots shines her big green eyes on him and insists repeatedly that she’s innocent, Mickey’s intuition tells him to run fast—in the opposite direction. But he’s a sucker for a pretty girl, so he takes on the case of the missing pen.

Rumor has it that Toots stole Eddy’s pen. It’s not just any old pen; it’s his dad’s pen. It has the White House logo on it. Eddy’s father, a senator from South Texas, got the pen from the President of the United States when he visited the White House last year. As Mickey begins his investigation, though, all the clues point to Toots and her newly ex-boyfriend as the primary suspects.

The first book in The Mickey Rangel Mystery series for intermediate readers, author and educator René Saldaña, Jr. has crafted another appealing book for kids, and his wise-cracking, smart protagonist will appeal to even the most reluctant readers.