SOLVED. Kids' sci-fi, "You pay people to lie to you?" [s]

[Emlen]

I read this book as a kid, late '80s-early '90s. If I'm remembering right (which I'm not at all sure I am) it was aimed at maybe a 10-12 year old age group. I remember it being short, but it's also possible I just didn't finish it.

The story involved a boy finding a device of some kind, after it was lost by another person. The boy starts getting called or summoned somehow using the device, by a strange person who asks him weird questions. He eventually realizes that having the device marks him as a sort of tour guide for aliens visiting earth; the strange person is actually an alien in disguise.

The one part I remember specifically is the alien pointing out a TV in some public place, which is showing a bank-robbery scene; the alien wants to know why, since these people are on camera doing something illegal, someone doesn't arrest them. The main character tries to explain that they're just actors, and the alien says in disbelief, "You pay people to lie to you?" I think that line was also a chapter title.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Black Suits from Outer Space is the book you are looking for. It is part of a set, btw. And it is a short book, pretty typical for that age group at that time.

[Emlen]

Thank you! SOLVED