The Chameleon Wore Chartreuse by Bruce Hale, Bruce Hale (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

Chet Gecko loves a good mystery. Almost more than he loves his fee—stinkbug pie.

So when fellow fourth grader Shirley Chameleon asks him to find her missing brother, Billy, Chet expects the case to be as easy a pie. But Billy's disappearance is part of a larger plot, one that involves the Rat Sisters, a riddling junkyard dog, and a vicious Gila monster named Herman. If Chet doesn't solve the case fast, the entire school could be humiliated. Worst of all, Chet might not get his fee. And Chet's hungry. . . .

Zesty and entertaining. The combination of school details, animal classmates, and homage to Raymond Chandler is glib but broadly and sustainedly humorous. . . . Young readers . . . will want to scuttle along with this schoolyard sleuth.

Bulletin

Zesty and entertaining. The combination of school details, animal classmates, and homage to Raymond Chandler is glib but broadly and sustainedly humorous. . . . Young readers . . . will want to scuttle along with this schoolyard sleuth.

Publishers Weekly

Fourth-grade gumshoe Chet Gecko and his smart sidekick, Natalie Attired, search for a missing chameleon in the first whodunit, and follow up their suspicions that the principal is up to something in the second. PW said, "Beginning readers especially will appreciate the offbeat, likable cast and quirky comedy." Ages 8-12. (Apr.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Children's Literature

Chet Gecko is a private eye--a fourth grade Sam Spade with a smart mouth, a fast tongue, and a trick tail. When his classmate, Shirley Chameleon, begs him to find her little brother, Billy, Gecko can't refuse. He's not a sucker for a damsel in distress--although she's the kind of girl he could fall for if he fell for girls. It's just that he can't turn down her stinkbug pie. But Billy is in with a bad crowd, and the search for the wayward first grader turns nasty. Chet suspects his disappearance has something to do with Herman, the dreaded Gila Monster. To solve this case, Gecko must find the Big Baboo and figure out "what you get when you cross a duck with a trash collector." Reluctantly, he accepts help from Natalie Attired, a good friend and the smartest mockingbird around. It's a tale of mushy secrets and revenge; fast-paced and "punny," a giggle a page from beginning to end. Delighted readers will eagerly await more mysteries "From the Tattered Casebook of Chet Gecko." 2000, Harcourt Inc., Ages 8 to 12, $14.00. Reviewer: Ellen R. Braaf—Children's Literature

School Library Journal

Gr 2-4-Chet Gecko, top private eye in the fourth grade, has the Sam Spade lingo down pat ("She was the kind of girl I could have fallen for. If I liked girls") but when it comes to detection, he literally doesn't have a clue. Retained by classmate Shirley Chameleon to locate her missing brother, he misinterprets obvious evidence and follows numerous red herrings. Eventually, Chet uncovers an evil plot against the school's football team, masterminded by Herman Gila Monster and his gang. Can Chet overcome gang members, sadistic teachers, and the detention dungeon to save the game and the day? The clever dialogue is filled with the kind of sarcastic similes that would have made Mickey Spillane proud. ("Brick snorted and giggled, a sound like two owls in a blender.") Even for satire, however, the book is often over the top. Adult characters are uniformly unattractive-gleefully cruel teachers, a sloppy coach, and a feline principal who sharpens his claws on the curtains. The gang's revenge, which leaves the detective suspended over a swimming pool to be chlorinated to death, is the sort of thing that might be expected of James Bond villains, but it's hardly the stuff of juvenile crime. This is far from an essential purchase, but it may resonate with young fans who want to go beyond Marjorie Sharmat's "Nate the Great" series (Delacorte).-Elaine E. Knight, Lincoln Elementary Schools, IL Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Meet Chet Gecko, fourth grade gumshoe: a private eye with a nose for trouble, a taste for stinkbug pie, and a detachable tail—all of which come into play in this hardboiled series kickoff. The trail to Shirley Chameleon's missing little brother, Jimmy, leads past Old Toady, first grade teacher with a Jell-o addiction, the Rat sisters Rizzo and Nadine, coach `Beef` Stroganoff, and worst of all, huge Herman the Gila Monster, booted off the football team for biting a referee. Along the way, Chet picks up plenty of clues and red herrings, bad jokes (`What do you get when you cross a duck with a trash collector?` `Down in the dumps.`) and a partner, multitalented mockingbird, Natalie Attired. In Hale's black and white illustrations, the motley assortment of tough-looking animals in school clothes will draw as many giggles as Chet's clipped narrative. The tale unwinds to a suitably chaotic climax involving narrow escapes, a football full of garbage and an invasion of yummy (to Chet) giant cockroaches. Here's a worthy successor to Cathy Stefanec-Ogren's Sly, P.I., (not reviewed), and a host of other scaled, furred or feathered sleuths. (Mail and on-line promos, author website, gecko costume available) (Fiction. 9-11)

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