The Mystery of the Abecedarian Academy

New Three Investigators #1

by Elizabeth Arthur, Steven Bauer

The boys are back. The truth is buried deep. And the trail is anything but cold.

The Salvage Yard is still there. So is the secret headquarters. And so are the Three Investigators—smarter than ever, a little older, and ready for their most challenging cases yet.

Conceived and co-written by Elizabeth Arthur, the daughter of Robert Arthur, the creator of the Three Investigators universe, this exciting reboot of the classic series takes its iconic characters into a new age. They return reimagined, reinvigorated, and more relevant than ever.

In the first book of a 26-book story arc, it's the summer before their freshman year in high school and Jupiter Jones, Bob Andrews, and Pete Crenshaw are back on the case in Rocky Beach, California. Their new client, Isabella Chang, wants to discover the truth about a murdered ancestor whose son Li Chang is rumored to have hidden a bag of gold nuggets his father panned from the American River during the heady days of the California gold rush.

With their old friend and mentor Hector Sebastian moving to Wyoming and their longtime driver Worthington leaving the Rent'n'Ride to set up a business of his own, The Three Investigators are facing big changes. Nevertheless, they manage to convince Worthington to drive them to the Gold Country in a rented four-wheel drive, stopping along the way to set up camp in Yosemite.

Before they take off, Jupiter's Uncle Titus returns to the Salvage Yard with a new haul of unusual old items, including a suit of armor and eight Chinese talismans painted on hammered metal—one of which is a Talisman Against Demons. In Yosemite, Bob gets an unexpected call from a menacing relative of Isabella Chang—who seems determined to scare them off the case. Thus begins a tale of intrigue, misdirection, hunches, ciphers, clues, coincidences, and a classic blend of legwork and analysis.

Why was the one-room schoolhouse where Li Chang was educated suddenly razed to the ground? Why is its foundation being guarded by a wild-eyed woman with a shotgun? Who stole letters addressed to Li Chang's Irish schoolmaster? What does the Owl of Athena carved on Li Chang's grave marker mean? And why was Li Chang so secretive about the location of his hidden gold?

Join Jupiter, Pete, and Bob as they ponder the complexity of a book cipher and uncover secrets hidden for generations. Adventure, danger, and intrigue await in this absorbing new episode in the Three Investigators saga. Whether you're a long-time fan or are meeting the boys for the first time, you’ll be glad to be part of this new beginning.

342 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 3, 2025

About the author

Elizabeth Arthur was born on November 15, 1953 in New York City. She is the daughter of Robert Arthur, a fantasy, horror and mystery writer and the creator of The Three Investigators mystery book series for young people. She was educated at Concord Academy in Concord, Massachusetts, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Notre Dame University of Nelson, British Columbia, and the University of Victoria in Victoria, B.C.

Her first book, Island Sojourn - a memoir about building a house on a wilderness island in northern Canada - was published in 1980 by Harper and Row. A second memoir, Looking For The Klondike Stone, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1993. She has also published five novels - Beyond the Mountain (Harper and Row, 1983), Bad Guys (Knopf, 1986), Binding Spell (Doubleday 1989), Antarctic Navigation (Knopf, 1995), and Bring Deeps (Bloomsbury U.K., 2003).

Athur's novel Antarctic Navigation - an 800-page epic narrated by an American woman who sets out to recreate Robert Falcon Scott's British Antarctic Expedition of 1910-1912 - was chosen by the New York Times as a Notable Book, received a Critics' Choice Award from the San Francisco Review of Books, and was chosen as a Best Book of 1995 by A Common Reader. In 1996 the novel received the Ohioana Book Award for Fiction from the Ohioana Library Association.

These awards came on the heels of two NEA Fellowships, as well as an operational support grant from the Division of Polar Programs at the National Science Foundation - the first ever given to a fiction writer.

Arthur has taught creative writing at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, the University of Cincinnati, and Indiana University/Purdue University of Indianapolis - where she directed the creative writing program. She has been married to the writer and editor Steven Bauer since June of 1982, and the two of them have recently completed twenty-six books in a contemporary Three Investigators mystery book series, updated for a new generation of readers.

Reviews

[Puffin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I already knew from the substack of dear Miss Arthur that her approach to this would be questionable, but I figured I better give the book a chance at least.

Really wish I could get the last few hours back.

The most glaring thing is that Arthur very much held onto her promise from the Substack to "not have a sensitivity reader foisted upon her who talks about lived experience" - she brings up extremely questionable [I am being kind here - a more correct word would be "racist"] talking points about how, allegedly, Chinese-American people should not complain about discrimination as they are doing way better in the US than they would in China - and just... you can tell very much that this was written without input from, nor care for actual marginalized voices, which makes me question why she chose to depict the characters as people from marginalized groups in the first place.

The book also keeps jumping to page-long infodumps on often irrelevant subjects that don't even have the charme of Jupiter's usual short-though-precise mentions of outlandish trivia or Bob's research results that were present in the original two series [I am counting CrimeBusters as a separate series for this purpose]. If you cut about 100, 110 pages of infodump there'd still be plenty left and the book would have a much more pleasant flow, as these big Wikipedia-esque side dashes really tear you out of the story.

The writing style overall is. I guess, fine. Whatever. Actually, no, not whatever, I feel like children deserve well-written literature and frankly, I don't know that I'd recommend this to a young reader. Certainly not over the older ones.

Really, you can just tell that Arthur's promise to "revive the legacy of the Three Investigators" is more about her father's legacy, which her substack already suggested. It feels neither like a truly good continuation of the American series' what with characters edited out and replaced and all that, nor is it well-paced or has a pleasant flow. I don't want to accuse her of this being a cashgrab - an accusation I have seen around - but I do think her motivation to write this new series comes from the wrong place. There is no market for new Three Investigators stories in the US, the 2010s movie disaster proved as much, and I don't think this will do much for the US-based hardcore fanbase. I guess for the odd nostalgic it'll be a nice read, though.

Fundamentally though, if we need new English Three Investigators stories, I think a better idea would be to strike a translation deal with Kosmos and have the German stories translated to English for the US market. After all, whilst the series is long forgotten in the US by most, Germany has 200 books to show for the last 30+ years. Must be doing something right.

The sad thing is - Germany serves us as a good example here - there absolutely is a way to make modern beloved Three Investigators books. If Arthur had worked closer with an editor, actually tried to match the tone of the books that came before and maybe got over her ego and the idea that Jupiter represented herself - after all, her father only write a fourth of the original US series' and surely whilst she was Robert Arthur's "little genius", I doubt she had the same bond with M.V. Carey or the other writers - this could have been a successful book. Unfortunately I cannot say it is a book I'd deem worth more than 1.5 stars out of 5.

This was simply Not It, as the kids say.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seems to me that Elizabeth Arthur and Steven Bauer set themselves a nearly impossible goal when they decided to introduce The Three Investigators to a new, young audience while not alienating an existing fan base that's largely middle-aged-to-old. Many existing fans wanted the boys to remain in their 1960s-70s milieu, while others thought that the only way to attract young readers was to bring them up-to-date. By all appearances, the authors tried to thread the needle, with hit-and-miss results.

Let me discuss aesthetics for a moment. Many older fans aren't going to like the cover. I like it. Would I rather see a cover illustration of the boys being confronted by something sinister or mysterious? Absolutely. But I like this design and the colors. I like that the artist has woven together several of the book's elements.

As an adult, I find the title somewhat intriguing, but even now, if you put two identical books on a shelf, one titled Mystery of the Abecedarian Academy, and the other Mystery of the Talking Skull, I'm going to pick the latter nearly every time, as I suspect most people, both young and old, would.

The interior of the book has a nice look to it, and it's a well-made product. Unfortunately, the authors made some formatting errors that give the text a bit of an amateurish appearance. In all, they're things that likely wouldn't bother most readers, but when it comes to books, I get pretty nit-picky. On the other hand, I found just one typo (others have found a couple of additional ones), and that's fewer than in many books put out by major publishing houses. For a self-published work, that's pretty impressive.

At first appearance, the book seems a little long, clocking in at 338 pages, which is way longer than any of the original 43 books. But the type here is larger, so the book isn't as long as it might seem at first glance.

I think that the book is, in general, well written, by which I mean the voice and style are generally consistent and things move along in a logical manner. The dialogue is largely believable and natural, though sometimes the interactions don't quite ring true to me, particularly in two passages involving the boys' perennial nemesis, "Skinny" Norris. A young reader might not be so charitable toward the dialogue. We hear characters saying "Golly!" "Holy Moly!" and "Swell." Such interjections make me think that the authors don't exactly have their fingers on the pulse of popular culture.

Also, there are numerous, and needlessly long, passages that are simply too "preachy," in which the authors feel compelled to share their worldview. In a few other passages, it seemed like characters were paraphrasing Wikipedia entries about random subjects for no good reason. I found myself rolling my eyes a couple of times, particularly in the first half of the book, and felt there should've been reader alerts: "Warning: Teaching Moment Ahead!" or "Notice: The authors can't let this moment pass without injecting their personal viewpoints."

I do like the introduction of the new character, Mallory. And I like that the authors share the inner thoughts of the characters-- something that gives the reader more insight into their motivations, backgrounds, and views--and I like how it shows us the bonds of friendship among the boys and the deep admiration they have for one another's abilities.

But speaking for myself, the big problem with this book is that it doesn't balance these introspective moments with ones of suspenseful action or creative deduction, which were hallmarks of the original series. There are really only three extended scenes that are at all suspense- or action-oriented (and one of those really has nothing to do with the mystery itself) and a couple more brief incidents that don't develop. All of these could have been drawn out a little more, with more obstacles and red herrings thrown in, while some other stuff could've easily been cut. There's some deduction involved, but nothing that really shows a spark of inspiration. There's a decent mystery here, but there's too much clutter around it. I'll give the authors the benefit of the doubt and attribute part of that to this being the first book of the series, which had to include some character background, etc.

Like other fans, I had a problem with the authors dropping characters, etc. that were in the original books. Chief among the missing are Hans and Konrad, the salvage yard helpers, replaced by two Norwegian brothers, Leif and Magnus.. I have a feeling that Arthur and Bauer are playing the long game here, and that we'll eventually learn that there was a reason for dropping Hans and Konrad and bringing in two Norwegian brothers. I also think it's possible that Hans and Konrad will later show up.

It seems to me that the treatment of Tunnel Two in the book better illustrates that in trying to please two distinct audiences, the authors will please neither. We're told early on in this book that the boys can no longer use Tunnel Two because they've outgrown it. Mentioning the tunnel and not using it annoys both the existing fan base (because it's extraneous information) and new readers (because it's a--well, yes, I'll say it: beloved--fixture in the original stories), and mentioning it and not incorporating it in the story violates the principle of Chekhov's gun. The authors say this series of 26 books will transpire over a period of years in the boys' lives. With Tunnel Two, they wasted a perfect opportunity to show the boys' growth by having them outgrow the tunnel within the series, instead of before its commencement.

One of the central themes of this book is the old "melting pot" view of American society, and I think that theme is summed up well in a nicely written passage at the end. But the authors more or less contradict themselves when they introduce us to a character whose "several-times great grandfather" (p. 87) was the child of Chinese immigrants and who had lived in California all her life, only to have Pete later say of her, "Our new case is from an old Chinese woman . . ." (p. 96). It seems to me the authors have missed their own point.

Then later, the authors, through Bob, take a character to task for pointing out the obstacles (e.g., prejudice and discrimination) faced by those of Chinese ancestry in the U. S. According to "Bob's" argument, people of Chinese ancestry have it better in the U. S. than the Chinese have it in their own country under the oppressive Communist Party, so they should stop playing the "victim card" and clam up (p. 222-223). That argument isn't far removed from one that was used to justify the enslavement of Africans and African Americans in this country, and it's the type of thing that sets my teeth on edge.

There are numerous references to the ancestry of the three main characters, including references to Jupe's Serbian heritage. I believed Elizabeth Arthur mentioned that there would be an overarching story within the series, and it seems likely that it'll be tied to Jupe's ancestry and childhood--and maybe to the heraldic creature that appears on the cover of each of the first three books. I do hope the authors won't succumb to the current craze of having an orphaned, teenaged character hold the key to the world's salvation.

Some fans have asserted that this new series of books is little more than a cynical money grab on the part of Elizabeth Arthur, and I don't think that's fair. It obvious that a lot of effort went into this first book (whether or not the results were what I and some others would have wanted). Given the subject and the method of publication, I don't think these folks are expecting to enjoy a big windfall from sales of their book. I wish them a lot of success with the series and hope that it'll lead to other things for T3I.

[Joe Stevens · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm thankful that folks who appreciate the book have already weighed in. Certainly you should read it and decide for yourself instead of taking the word of a grumpy old curmudgeon who has been spoiled for terrible writing by reading the finest writer of them all PG Wodehouse. None the less...

It is not very good, but you may enjoy it. I just watched a weak James Bond flick and this was one reviewer’s clever one line review. It fits this book perfectly.

If you are a fan of the Three Investigators particularly one who enjoys every book in the series indiscriminately, you should enjoy these books. If you enjoy the Robert Arthur penned novels because of the high quality of the writing relative to juvenile series fiction, you will struggle.
We could do the whole systemic failures of the book thing. From the horrific sentence structure, to the info dumps, to the bizarre ‘modern’ tech that the kids dislike and turn off, to the fact that every time a character opens his or her mouth they sound like a 40 year old woman, to the laughable detective work, but I doubt any fan will care.

What I can’t forgive, and you might not be able to either, is that the characters and the world that I enjoyed as a kid have been destroyed. As a geek living at the library some daze, I became friends with brilliant, arrogant, touchy, pudgy Jupiter and athletic and brave Peter. Mostly I liked Bob. I could never be as clever as Jupe and I was nothing like Pete, but Bob in the library learning things and writing things down, that I could do.

What no villain, nor any second rate hired scribe of the original series, could do these two authors have accomplished. They erased Jupiter, Peter, and Bob and put generic doppelgangers in their place. They made the junk yard dull and eliminated the raw fun of headquarters. There is nothing left of my memories except a burnout crater.

[Ryan B · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nation of immigrants
Friends made along the way
Cursed treasure

The Three Investigators was my intro into detective mysteries and I was thrilled to hear that the daughter of Robert Arthur got the rights back to write more stories. The background and families of our three detectives are fleshed out a bit more. I like that some more marginal identity added to both Bob and Pete with a bit of a twist on Jupiter's mother's background. Even Worthington got a lot more backstory. The story being largely about the immigrant experience of Asian immigrants during the Gold Rush had the characters contemplating their own identities a little more that a typical high school-er would. Outside of one weird opinion about China from Bob, I think the politics of the immigrant experience and inclusion were good (especially in these times in the US). Updates to the characters to a more modern time were pretty seamless, though it was still a little difficult to place exactly what time the boys are in now, but I think that's OK. Mallory should be an interest character going forward. A lot of table setting where the mystery itself took a bit of a back seat at times. Not a groundbreaking reinvention of the Three Investigators, but good to have them back and I look forward to seeing where these new adventures go next.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have fond memories of reading Three Investigators books in the '70s, starting with The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot. I loved the intros by Alfred Hitchcock especially as it gave the series a bit of real-world realism that other book series at the time didn't have. Hitchcock's death changed the series in a way I still don't understand, as the publisher kept the intros the same, changing only the Hitchcock references to Hector Sebastian.

The announcement that a new Three Investigators series was coming excited me. Fans of the original series (including the Crimebusters) will find plenty to like about the new series. Jupiter, Pete, and Bob are basically the same trio we all know and love. They've been given more background, including ethnicity (Bob is now of Chinese and Scottish descent, Pete has Mexican ancestry, and Jupiter's mom had Serbian roots). But the core characters are the same. Worthington is still around too. And there's a new character who will probably be a help to the guys.

The first book is longer and denser than those in the original series. And that's a good thing. It still has action, but I liked having to think a little more and getting a little more to chew on as far as background.

Probably the hardest thing for me to accept about the new series is that only the ten Robert Arthur-penned happened. I understand why that is, but I don't have to like it. Instead, I'll embrace the Arthurverse and this new series.

[Vincent T. Ciaramella · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know, I read the original series back in the mid-late 1980's and again with my son (he is now 10 and we've been reading them for over three years now) and they are treasures to me. I was kind of skeptical about this new version, but I thought, "what the heck." We read The Mystery of the Brobdingnagian Beast" first and I thought it was pretty solid. We backtracked to this one and I must say, this one is winning for both my son and I for the new series. Are the old and new series the same? It's the save vibe but with new technology and some updated backstory. Purists might not like its, but my son and I do. We still love the classics but its nice to read some new ones.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

A chance to see the next version of your childhood favorite. Still timeless with a gentle push towards a different time without forgetting to acknowledge all the characters of the past. There is more character development and it appears there may be a new character amongst the Investigators down the road. All in all a good job by Elizabeth. You did your dad proud! ? ? ?

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great idea—to re-launch The Three Investigators!

Elizabeth Arthur’s father created the original series. She and her co-author have brought them into the present, while remaining true to the spirit of the original series.