SOLVED. Old Children's novel that includes the "oranges and lemons" poem and a character wears disguises and eats pistachios. [s]

[Hannah]

I read this Children's novel around 2005 and have been searching for it again since around 2011! I remember the book being pretty eccentric and I think it was divided into three or so different stories/sections that may have all came together in the end. The book may have been British or Canadian and was probably written between 1880 and 1950? The cover didn't have a picture on it and was an old-school blank cover, maybe green? When I originally found the book at the library, I was looking for the book the Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois. This leads me to believe that the book author's last name starts with P or du B depending on how they classified it. I seem to remember the author's name had initials in it.

Things I remember about the story:
1. One of the characters wears a lot of disguises. The character tells the narrator that there's always at least one small way to see through people's disguises i.e. everyone has a tell
2. The poem "Oranges and Lemons" appears near the end of the book. The poem goes, "Oranges and Lemons, Say the bells of St. Clement's. You owe me five farthings, Say the bells of St. Martin's. When will you pay me? Say the bells at Old Bailey. etc." I vaguely remember that the story had something to do with church bells.
3. The character who wears disguises eats a lot of pistachios
4. One of the characters may have been a private investigator, but I don't think this was a main plot point?

[Cycad]

I think this is an Ellen Raskin book- maybe The Tattoed Potato and other Clues.

[Hannah]

I think this is it!! Thank you!

[Kris]

Hannah, here's the Google Books preview of The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues by Ellen Raskin - Cycad's suggestion:

https://books.google.com/books?id=eyZ... There are different cover images.

Should we mark your request as Solved?

[Maureen]

Regarding the Oranges and Lemons poem, it is about church bells and the sounds they make/made when rung: https://londonphotowalks.uk/oranges-a...

[Hannah]

Yes, this is the correct book, this can be marked as solved. Thank you!

[Kris]

Great. Thanks for the update, Hannah.

[Cycad]

I can't believe I spelled Tattooed wrong.

But I'm happy it was the book!