Fabio the world's greatest flamingo detective: Peril at Lizard Lake by Laura James

Bloomsbury, 2020. ISBN: 9781408889374. 128pp., pbk.
In a small town on the banks of Lake Laloozee lives Fabio, the world's greatest flamingo detective. He's not tall or strong, but slight and pink. And he's very, very clever.
Most of the time. But when an unusual lapse of judgement leads Fabio to accept a ride in his associate Gilbert's plane, little does he know he'll be nose-diving into a new mystery!
When the tiny plane crash-lands near a remote village in the savannah, all Fabio wants is a pink lemonade to calm his nerves. But the town well has dried up, and the water didn't just disappear on its own! Fabio's on the case, and it's going to take a daring sting operation to set things right.
With its hot pink and citrus yellow colour scheme in both the illustrations and pages, this is a series that will appeal to newly independent readers who like something a bit wacky in their reading diet. Flamingoes are up there with unicorns on the popularity charts right now, so for that reason alone it will be appealing but as the third in the series, it offers more than just offbeat characters with a mystery to solve through an engaging storyline while still supporting readers who are transitioning to the complexity of novels.
Barbara Braxton