Mystery at the Club Sandwich

by Doug Cushman

When Lola Gale looses her marbles, Nick Trunk, elephant detective, is put on the case where he examines the clues of ostrich feathers and sticky peanut butter in order to find the culprit responsible for the theft of the missing goods.

Genres: Picture Books, Mystery, Childrens, Humor, Animals, Detective

30 pages, Hardcover

First published October 18, 2004

About the author

Doug Cushman has illustrated more than 100 children’s books, 20 or so of which he has also written. Among his many honors, Doug has gained a place on the New York Times Children’s Best Sellers list and on the 2003 Children’s Literature Choice list. He has received a National Cartoonist’s Society Reuben award and a 2004 Christopher Award for his book illustrations.

Reviews

[Anthony]

Nick Trunk, private detective, is hired to find some missing marbles belonging to Lola Gale that were stolen from the Club Sandwich where she sings. Nick takes the case and soon finds himself on the trail of the thief by using the only clues he has, a boa feather found on the floor, and a smudge of peanut butter found on the dressing room door of Lola Gale.

[Lara's]

Synopsis : Lola Gale has lost her marbles. Literally. Nick Trunk, private investigator, has been hired to find them. He's a very good detective, but this case is a tough nut to crack.
Review : This is a wonderfully illustrated story that is filled with some really funny puns. The humor is the kind I remember sharing at slumber parties. Goofball, giggly stuff. The mystery isn't all that difficult to solve and young readers will enjoy the reward of figuring out the culprit before the end. The characters make it very easy to over dramatically act out and elaborate on their voices. I really liked the play of the film noir detective stories of the 1930's era.
Critical Reviews :From School Library Journal, "Readers will guess the villain early on but that won't interfere with their enjoyment of the droll story, which is greatly enhanced by delightful illustrations."

[Jillian Dospil]

Mystery at the Club Sandwich is a mystery picture book recommended for second or third grade. The picture book is unique because it is filled with black and white illustrations. It offers readers with many places to stop, think, and predict who stole "the bag with six marbles in it."

[Eric Barnes]

So bored reading this to my child. It was an exact remake of an old detective novel...No originality at all. I couldn't wait for it to end. I read a ton of children's books to my kids and am a librarian and this book bored me to death.

[Diane]

Great for our 2nd grade mystery unit ... finding evidence to support your conclusion

[David Choquette]

Nick Trunk is a private investigator elephant. He works for peanuts. Lola Gale is a fox-y lounge singer at the Club Sandwich. She has lost her marbles, and suspects someone has stolen them. Detective Trunk is the only one with enough nose and enough brains to solve this sticky, peanut butter-coated caper. With enough bad puns to make even a first grader groan, Mystery at the Club Sandwich, is a delightful picture book to introduce kids to the mystery genre. With deadpan first person narration and over-dramatic black and white illustrations, Doug Cushman’s tale parodies and embraces the tropes of the hard-boiled films noir of old. Detective Nick Trunk searches the scene of the crime, finds clues, interrogates witnesses, rounds up the usual suspects, and reveals the perpetrator to the surprise of the assembled cast. He examines each character’s motives and opportunities, and consumes a number of peanut butter and fish sandwiches in the process.
Adults and older children will appreciate the humor in this story, but the big reveal probably won’t come as much of a surprise. This book’s best use is as a read-aloud for kindergarten, first, or maybe second grade. (Extra credit if you read it aloud with a film noir Brooklyn accent.) Younger students will delight in the puns as well as the gross factor of the strange peanut butter concoctions. I can think of no better book to teach young children mystery genre vocabulary like “clues” and “suspects”, and teachers should pause before the climax to allow kids to make their own deductions about who committed the crime. Mystery at the Club Sandwich will make students want to pick up their magnifying glasses and do some sleuthing of their own, no doubt.

[Amanda]

This was such a fun book, maybe more so for me than my preschooler. The title even points that there is tongue in cheek humor. My husband and I definitely appreciated this more than our son. Black and white illustrations are reminiscent of film noir and I tried my best at a Guy Noir voice, making it even more fun to read aloud. I haven't read many picture book mysteries, so that also made it unique. I'd recommend this one and think that it could appeal to a wide range of ages with something new for kids and readers to discover as they learn more humor.

[Nanci Booher]

I absolutely love love love this book. I read it with a "mickey spillane" tone in my head and drank up the illustrations. Nick Trunk is a detective who works for peanuts....literally. Nola Gale has lost her marbles...her luck marbles that is. Nola is a singer and needs her lucky marbles to perform. She hires Nick to help her solve this mystery.
I wish this was a series but it's not. I went to order it from amazon and they don't have any new copies so I ordered a used copy...and I don't even care!

[Nicole Entwistle]

This book is about a famous singer's lucky marbles and how they came up missing. A detective is brought in to try to determine who took the gems. The use of mystery and suspense in this book is great. I never thought that the person who did it would have done it. This book would be used in the classroom if you are trying to teach students that jealousy gets you no where and sometimes jealousy leads you to do not so very nice things.

[Jay]

What could be funnier than an elephant private detective?? How about one that gets paid peanuts, literally!!! this short fun read is mainly for kids but I had fun reading it. With only an ostrich feather and high price peanut butter as clues will our daring star find the missing marbles, or is he being sent on a wild goose (or should I say ostrich) chase?

[Dylan & Belle at LearnPlayFun]

This story is about an elephant who works for peanuts. He is a detective. People hire him for cases. This case was about lucky marbles that were missing. I liked the beginning where you meet him and he says "I work for peanuts". It was so funny when he said that.

Rated and reviewed by Dylan, age 8.

[Danielle]

This book is a prime example of Crime Noir. I took a Crime Noir literature class for my Lit degree and this picture book nails it! All the important elements are there. I read this book one-on-one with children and to whole classes and all loved it. Not only is it entertaining and engaging but it's one I want to own for myself.
Highly recommend.

[Chris]

This is a cute little who-dunnit. The black and white illustrations are reminiscent of the old black and white detective movies. Kids will enjoy figuring out the case, and laughing at the word-play.

Curriculum connections:
Plenty of word-play; ex: the elephant detective who works for peanuts.

[Liz Todd]

A longer read for the kindergarteners, but they were able to "get it" with some additional discussion and support. A great example of what a detective does and great "clues" that make the mystery solvable (hooray!) with some inferencing.

[The Brothers]

This is kids "mystery noir" about an elephant (who works for peanuts) hired to find some missing lucky marbles of a local night club singer. There are lots of suspects and clues the elephant must sort through. But in the end, he gets the culprit!

B&W illustrations are really neat.

[Christi Balisti]

This book is so much up my alley that I’m surprised I didn’t write it myself. A Film-Noir mystery starring an Elephant Detective? That’s like 5 of my favorite things! I only wish that Doug would have written a series of these books. I would read them! 💕

[Ledawn]

Picture book for older readers.
Film noir mystery

[Julia]

amzing use of old time sayings!

[The Reading Countess]

I've read great reviews, but considering the young audience, it didn't go over too well.
Many adult references and guffaws would make it a better read (and rating) with older kids, though.

[Mackenzie]

This book was so good that I re-read it aloud to Steven. I think we enjoyed it more than the kids. Sheer hilarity!!

[Teresa Raines]

I didn't like this book the first time I read it. Then I started reading it to the kids at school, and came to really enjoy it.

[Debbie]

A cute little story — and it was so fun to hear Armand giggle at the book's silliness!

[Carolina Cruz]

This book was good, although predictable [as in adult] I enjoyed reading it. The tone was very serious, but had puns about peanut butter. I recommend it to 3rd-6th graders.

[Melissa]

Very fun and has lots of puns. Fourth graders love it!
Own

[Melanie]

I read this to my niece and nephew à la Philip Marlowe (H. Bogart). They really enjoyed this book. We borrowed it from the library but might buy it.

[Rachel]

An amusing tribute to black and white mystery films. Children will love solving the mystery with Nick Trunk. ("That's my name.") Keep an eye out for a Humphrey Bogart easter egg!

[Danielle Mootz]

I loved this book and it kept the kids full attention.

[Leslie]

A noir version of Cuckoo's Calling mixed with A Fish Called Wanda with puns

[Miss Ryoko]

Cute concept... problem was it was too long and too boring.