A Case for Jenny Archer

Ellen Conford's third Jenny Archer book is a gentle mystery built for the exact moment a young reader has outgrown easy readers but is not yet ready for chapter-book length. Jenny becomes convinced her neighbors are acting suspiciously and launches a full surveillance operation with her friend Wilson and her dog Barkley — only to stumble into a real burglary already being foiled. The humor respects children's intelligence, the chapter length and vocabulary are carefully calibrated for the age, and Publishers Weekly's endorsement as an ideal next-up book for primary-grade readers holds up. The honest caveat is that the plot is straightforward without many surprises, and the book works better read in series order than as a standalone. Print availability has thinned out since the original run. For a six-to-nine-year-old discovering mysteries, this is a warm and well-crafted on-ramp.