The Silverton Sleuths

Ten-year-old Rose Watson has a skill for getting into trouble. But when that particular skill leads her into the sinister world of art forgery, theft, and betrayal, trouble takes on a whole new meaning: danger.

On a trip from Silverton Primary School to an art gallery in a nearby town, Rose is intrigued to learn the painting that most captures her eye is actually a fake. Her beloved gran had been devastated by accusations of forgery before she passed away, and Rose can’t help wondering if the two things are connected. Then, as she leaves the gallery, a strange man is watching her. Why is that very same man arguing with her headmistress the next morning? Is he too connected?

Determined to get to the bottom of the mystery and clear her gran’s name, Rose drags her best friend Sally into her investigation, and together they become the Silverton Sleuths. Convinced that essential clues lie in her gran’s old journal with an odd symbol on its cover, cast aside in her parents’ attic, Rose is dismayed when she goes to retrieve it to discover someone has got there first. All her gran’s possessions have vanished, the only thing remaining being a note filled with regret and despair.

With dark warnings coming from the very people she should be able to trust, and the odd symbol popping up in unexpected places, Rose wonders if she’s out of her depth. And when the truth behind the symbol starts to become clear, she knows she is. But by then, it’s too late. She’s somewhere truly terrifying, and she’s there all alone.

Will Sally be able to follow the clues and come to Rose’s rescue? Or will the Silverton Sleuths’ first case end in disaster?