The Recorder Racket by Anna Battese illustrated by Ruth-Mary Smith

PD McPem (Penelope Delores McPem) finds a recorder in a box of her mum's old things while she is visiting her Grandparents. PD is sure she can immediately play wonderful music and that her mum will be so impressed BUT I'm sure you know there is some skill needed to make a recorder sound good. This is not something you learn in one day! PD goes to out to the garage to help her grandfather sort his treasure boxes but when she returns inside her recorder is missing. Her grandfather suggest they form a detective agency to solve this mysterious mystery. Along the way PD learns new words such as: suspect, detective, thorough, witnesses, black hole and deduce. I love the way PD is not afraid to ask her grandfather to explain words she doesn't understand this reminded me of the Fancy Nancy series. It is also such fun to see the way the grandparents slip into the imaginative play of this story. 

This slim mystery is perfect for ages 7+. It is part of a series called PD McPem's Agency for Mysterious Mysteries.

With its large well-spaced text and short manageable chapters, this early chapter book is perfect for your emerging reader. The black and white illustrations are just perfect - whimsical and expressive, beautifully enhancing the narrative and breaking up the text on the page. Aussie Kids Books

Those who are traversing the “stepping stones” between reading materials love series because it means they can bring their prior knowledge of the characters and situations to the story so they can get stuck into the new adventure without having to figure out relationships and so forth, and so a new one to add to the mix is always fun.  The Bottom Shelf

More details about these books on the author web page. Anna Battese lives in Melbourne. Here is the second book in this series:

It's West Bay Primary School's annual Pet Parade and Miss Harnett's Year One class is excited to showcase their lovable companions. Budding detective PD McPem is particularly keen to show off her clever canine assistant, Scooter. But the arrival of her new deskmate, Theodora Putkins, and her Rhinoceros Beetle Circus creates havoc when both Scooter and Mary the beetle are nowhere to be found!  Can PD McPem's Agency for Mysterious Mysteries solve the puzzle of the missing pets before it's too late?