Trouble in Bugland: A Collection of Inspector Mantis Mysteries

William Kotzwinkle / profusely illustrated by Joe Servello

ISBN 10: 0879234725 / ISBN 13: 9780879234720

Published by David R. Godine, Publisher, 1983

About this Item

Signed by both Kotzwinkle and Servello on half-title page. Stated First Edition. Red cloth with gilt lettering on spine, inset pictorial stamped in black on front cover. Interior is clean and unmarked, pages crisp. Ten color full-page illustrations and numerous in-text vignettes by Joe Servello. Publisher's matching, illustrated bookmark laid-in. Dust jacket has a small chip at head of spine; not price clipped; in an archival mylar sleeve. 152 pages. In a tribute to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's tales, William Kotzwinkle has crafted five intricately detailed stories in a Holmesian fashion, featuring Inspector Mantis and his companion, Dr. Hopper. The anthropomorphic insect duo pursue their sleuthsome adventures in a Victorian atmosphere and encounter some rather curious entomological twists. Seller Inventory # 015376

Bibliographic Details

Title: Trouble in Bugland: A Collection of ...

Publisher: David R. Godine, Publisher

Publication Date: 1983

Binding: Hardcover

Illustrator: Illus. By Joe Servello

Condition: Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good+

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: 1st Edition.

About this title

Synopsis:

A quick-witted insect sleuth, patterned after Sherlock Holmes, displays his brilliant powers of deduction in solving five mysteries.

From the Inside Flap:

Now in its third printing: a collection of five detective stories with an all-insect cast of characters. Follow Inspector Mantis, of brilliant mind, supersensitive antennae, and iron grip, and his faithful sidekick Doctor Hopper, an accomplished violinist and long-jumper, along with a bevy of buggy bandits, as they solve entomological cases with clever sleuthing.

Going forth from his little cottage at 221B Flea Street, Inspector Mantis, accompanied by his trusted colleague Doctor Hopper, solves "The Case of the Missing Butterfly," "The Case of the Caterpillar's Head," and three other antennae-bending mysteries puzzling the populace of Victorian Bugland. Criminal detection, combined entomology, makes this, in the words of The Horn Book, "the most engaging and cleverest reincarnation of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson yet." Joe Servello's color and pen-&-ink drawings bring exquisite period detail to these tales: steam engines, deerstalkers, fog, and mandibles have never been more lovingly crosshatched.