Review by Frank Plowright

Detective Stanley and the Museum Mystery was a delightful introduction to how a former police detective is occupying his time during retirement, and this time there’s strangeness happening at Narlybone Botanic Gardens. Erica Harrison’s sample art shows Detective Stanley being told about a rare orchid on display, and young readers will be more astounded than old to learn that within two pages it’s missing.

Harrison’s art is delightful in placing assorted humanoid animals in flat, bright and detailed settings. There’s plenty for young readers to explore on every page, and background jokes feature, such as a police detective distracted by a butterfly. Having the police using scooters to get around is another great visual joke.

As before, this sits on the cusp of the line separating children’s books from graphic novels. Detective Stanley is retired, but recognises his police force successor, amusingly drawn as a bulky rhino, as not greatly capable. It led to slight animosity previously, but here Detective Stanley decides offering suggestions to improve the police’s reputation is a better idea.

For those old enough to remember them, Hannah Tunnicliffe’s narration has the comforting cadence of 1970s BBC TV shows for young children. She pitches the characters exactly right for young readers to be able to understand Police Superintendent Shiro is an idiot making the wrong decisions, and provides a wide range of people as possible suspects. She’s also very good at subtly showing whose behaviour isn’t quite normal, and therefore more likely to be responsible for the orchid theft. Stanley is shown beyond detective work, and scenes of him at home mulling things over include Harrison’s fine psychedelic spread of bickering sheep to be counted.

For all the clues, this isn’t a mystery to be solved, but one where the joy is following Detective Stanley around the attractively drawn town and taking in his feelings and persistence. He’ll return in Detective Stanley and the Trouble on the Train.