SOLVED. Children's "how to" book for being a detective or a spy, c. 2005 or before. [s]

[Chelsea]

I could have sworn the book was called something along the lines of "the alligator detectives handbook" but a search for alligator detectives didn't find anything. The book was full of various ideas for secret codes, covering tracks, etc. It had illustrations, I think either black and white line drawings or black and white + one fill color. (not full color) There were a group of kids referenced in the examples and at the time I thought that they were part of a book series but I never read any other books so I could be wrong.

Some of the how-to topics:
Making a secret compartment in the bottom of a wastebin
Making a shoelace compartment/code/something
How to tell how far away a person is from you
A roller with dead leaves that you drag behind you to cover tracks
Sticking a pencil in your mouth to disguise your voice on the phone

I am trying to remember if any of them referenced computers, tape recorders, or anything else that could date the book and coming up blank.

[Kris]

Chelsea, do any of the suggestions in this other request sound familiar? https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Joanna]

Chet Gecko's Detective Handbook (and Cookbook): Tips for Private Eyes and Snack Food Lovers?

[Chelsea]

I think it's the Tips and Tricks for Jr. Detectives in the other request thread. Thanks for pointing me there!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

[Kris]

Glad you found your book, Chelsea.

Google Books has a snippet search for Tips & Tricks For Junior Detectives by Thomas ; Klann, Gabriele ; Farth, Bernard (Illustrators) Brezina:

https://books.google.com/books?id=o8A...

Quotes: "Alligator Tricks The Pencil Trick / The Rasping Voice" | "Alligator techniques that we invented for our cases" | "Hiding Place in a Shoelace" | "...leave tracks behind... Tie large leaves on the bottom of your shoes." | "Make a track-smudging roller..." | "FAR. AWAY. IS. THE. SUSPECT? You can guess the distance between you and a suspect with one glance..."