Sleuthing the Swedish Palace: Nate the Great Saves the King of Sweden by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

I, Nate the Great, am a Detective. Sometimes I solve strange cases.

Especially for Rosamund. But not this summer.

Rosamund is in Scandinavia.

Or that's what I thought, until I looked in my mailbox.

In his mailbox is a very strange postcard--in which Rosamund says she has lost something with a long nose and that Nate must solve the case or she will call the King of Sweden to solve it for her.

Nate has not a clue. He doesn't know what Rosamund lost or where or when she lost it. He feels sorry for the poor King of Sweden. He tries eating some pancakes to help him think. And he decides to interrogate Rosamund's friends.

Annie reports that she was there while Rosamund was packing and that she put mice toys for her cats carefully on opposite sides of her suitcase. She also gives Nate a photo of Rosamund in a gift shop with a tee-shirt that says NORWAY LOVES ROSAMUND. Nate examines the photo with his magnifying glass and spots some tiny long-nosed Norwegian troll dolls on a display rack beside her. AHA!

Now Nate has a clue. He thinks she bought toy trolls at the gift shop.

Nate makes a quick trip to the library to do some research on trolls. He learns that they have long noses and wild hair and like to hide in dark places like under bridges.

Next Nate interrogates Rosamund's friend Esmeralda. She shows him a photo from Rosamund in the Swedish palace, holding something with long dark hair.

TROLLS HAVE LONG, DARK HAIR!

Now he thinks he knows what she lost and when she lost it. Nate eats a few more pancakes to help him think while he watches his dog Sludge looking for a bone he's buried in the front yard. AHA!

What if Rosamund didn't lose the troll?

What if she put it some place and forgot it?

Nate the Great has solved his first international case, and when Rosamund returns, he can tell her precisely where to look in her suitcase for the missing trolls, in Marjorie Weinman Sharmat's Nate the Great Saves the King of Sweden (Dell Yearling Books), illustrated in the trademark style of artist Marc Simont. Young beginning readers will love to follow Nate the Great's investigations and try deduce where the trolls can be found along with their favorite sleuth. Says Publishers Weekly,"Loose, humorous chalk and watercolor spots help turn this beginning reader into a page-turner.”