• Age: 9 to 12
• Grade: 4 to 7
• Reading age: 9 to 12

After the death of his parents, Harry keeps busy by making food for the unhoused in his grandmother’s food truck.

That’s how he meets and befriends Stanley, an excellent cook and teacher with only two possessions: a precious recipe binder and a grumpy dog named Waffles. Then Stanley turns up dead, the victim of a grisly murder, and his treasured recipe book is gone. Harry is shocked—who would do such a thing? That is exactly what Waffles wants to find out. Yes, Waffles, the dog that is now talking to Harry and only Harry. Waffles reveals that in his past life he was a detective and Stanley’s friend before he too was murdered and then reincarnated as a dog. Waffles wants to follow the crumbs and piece together Stanley’s murder, but he can’t do it without Harry. Will this souped-up duo be able to take down a heaping serving of criminal characters, or will they be the next dish on the murderer’s menu?

This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading-level book for teen readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read!

John Lekich is a Vancouver-based author and freelance writer whose work has appeared in such publications as Reader's Digest, the Los Angeles Times and the Hollywood Reporter. A former West Coast arts correspondent for The Globe and Mail, he is the recipient of ten regional and national magazine awards. His favorite interview subjects include Audrey Hepburn, George Plimpton, Garrison Keillor and silent screen star Lillian Gish.
John is the author of two previous young adult novels, The Losers' Club and King of the Lost and Found. He is currently working on a new novel.

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