Disoriented Express

Wishbone Mysteries #14

by Brad Strickland, Thomas E. Fuller, Rick Duffield

When Joe and Wishbone take a mystery train ride to solve a pretend murder, they encounter a real crime that must be solved before the train arrives.

Genres: Mystery, Middle Grade, Childrens, Animals, Young Adult

167 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

William Bradley Strickland (b. 1947) is the author (or co-author) of over 60 novels and over 60 pieces of short fiction and poetry.

Born in New Hollard, Strickland earned his Ph.D. in American literature from the University of Georgia. He has taught English courses at the University of Georgia, Oglethorpe University, Truett-McConnell College, and, since 1987, at Gainesville State College.

His first novel was 1986's To Stand Beneath the Sun, followed quickly by the books in the Jeremy Moon trilogy.

Strickland has shared co-author credit on many of his books: with his wife, Barbara, on stories in the Star Trek and Are You Afraid of the Dark? properties; and with the late author Thomas Fuller, books in the Wishbone series, involving the popular Jack Russell Terrier from the Public Television series of the same name. Strickland and Fuller also collaborated on numerous original works, including the Pirate Hunter series, the Mars: Year One series, and the comedic mystery for adults, The Ghost Finds a Body.

After the death of John Bellairs, Strickland was approached by John’s son, Frank, to complete the two books his father had already started; these unfinished manuscripts became The Ghost in the Mirror and The Vengeance of the Witch-Finder. Strickland also wrote two books based on brief plot outlines left by Bellairs: The Drum, the Doll and the Zombie and The Doom of the Haunted Opera. Beginning in 1996, Strickland has kept Bellairs' legacy alive by writing the further adventures of Johnny Dixon and Lewis Barnavelt. Books in the corpus include The Hand of the Necromancer (1996); The Tower at the End of the World (2001); The House Where Nobody Lived (2006); and his most recent title, The Sign of the Sinister Sorcerer (2008).

In 2001, Strickland won received the Georgia Author of the Year Award, Children's/Young Adult Division, for When Mack Came Back, set in WWII-era Georgia. Strickland says the story "is based on the farm owned by [his] grandfather, where [I] often visited when [I] was a child." Kong: King of Skull Island was released in 2005, an illustrated tale by Strickland, author John Michlig, and fantasy artist Joe DeVito that serves as both a prequel and sequel to the epic story of the legendary ape.

Strickland is an active member of the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company, where he writes and performs in numerous audio drama projects. He was awarded the ARTC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. He is married to the former Barabara Justus and has two grown children.

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wishbone is a fun show, and these novels--which are original stories, not novelizations of episodes--deliver the goods.

[Mom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Wishbone book was a very enjoyable read. It was cute and fun and the mysteries were equally balanced.

[Christy Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was two mysteries in one. They were having a fake murder mystery like the Oriental Express which is mentioned in here. Loved that movie though need read book. Anyways the second mystery is for real because and get this an entire train car is stolen.

Joe and his friends have to figure out how someone gets away with an entire train car and they did something else by dognapping Wishbone. Thankfully they didn't take him with them though just hid him on the train.

Wishbone was a big help in this more than once and not just the fake crime either he helps solve the real one too. I really enjoyed this and I'm so glad that I read it it might be the first wishbone in a while that's gotten a five star. It definitely deserved it.

[Bookworm4Life · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wishbone, his owner Joe, and many of their friends climb aboard an old train to take part in a murder mystery game being hosted by Oakdale's Windom College Foundation. But it turns out the train they are riding on has a mystery of its own, and soon one of the train cars gets stolen! Joe and Wishbone must put on their real detective personas and figure out what happened before the train arrives at the station.

[Twyla · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite part was when Joe and Wishbone managed to find the location of olf hidden paintings, hidden in plain sight, and stopped thieves trying to find it. My least favorite parts were when everything was chaos, since noone knew what was going on, who stole the train car and why.

[Dharia Scarab · Rating 3 out of 5]

My love of reading started when i was young, and it gives me immense pleasure to provide books to Spread the Word Nevada, an organization that passes them on to children in the community. They are a terrific organization supporting an important cause. If your local I encourage you to check them out. For those living further a field, look in your own community, their may already be a similar program in place. And if not, you can always help start one.

http://spreadthewordnevada.org/

Myself, I go out on the weekends and
shop thrift store and bulk book lots to rescue books and donate them. Sometimes I'll find a book I remember reading when I was young and will read it again before passing it on.

I don't rate these books using my normal scale, instead I give most of them three stars. This isn't a Criticism of the book, simply my way of rating them as good for children.

[Jaina Hope]

This was a fun, quick and easy read.