Dash the Detective… and the Book Critic Too!

You can’t say he didn’t get it honest: Our son Dashiell is both a great reader and a fan of mystery fiction—though the stories at his level are far more gentle than what my wife Tara and I read and write, of course.

On a couple of occasions recently, Dash has played detective himself—setting up an agency on the back porch earlier this year (see photo above) and then pulling down a magnifying glass this week and investigating several mysteries in our own house. His successes so far (as I posted on FB):

  • The Case of Three Tiny Plastic Pieces on the Carpet (An electrician who changed a light fixture last week and didn’t clean up after himself.)
  • The Case of the Orange Fuzz (Was it from the cat? No. Was it from the orange pillows? No. Was it from the orange blanket? Ding ding ding! And bonus for forensic analysis.)
  • The Case of the Blue Stain on the Rocking Chair Cushion (“It looks like it’s where someone sat there for too long,” Dash said. “And it looks like it came from blue jeans.” ….staring suspiciously at what I was wearing…. Another one solved!)

This week, Dash also made his debut as a fiction critic, with the two of us reviewing a picture book for the Crime Friction podcast hosted by Chantelle Aimée Osman and Jay Stringer—thanks to them for including us! Our short segment focuses on The Detective of London, written by Robert Kraus and Bruce Kraus and illustrated by Robert Byrd.

You can hear our segment on Episode 12 of Crime Friction at any of the following links; the episode’s featured guest is Lou Berney, talking about his new book November Road. (He’s pretty good too, of course.)

Dash and I will be reviewing another book for the next episode—already checking out titles now. Stay tuned!

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