The Perplexing Pineapple by Ursula Dubosarsky

The Cryptic Casebook of Coco Carlomagno and Alberta series. Allen and Unwin, 2013. ISBN 9781743312575.
(Age: 9+) A strange pineapple floats by at the same time everyday followed by a scream and then laughing. That's enough to scare anyone! When the Chief of the Buenos Aires police is scared who does he call? He calls his very smart cousin, Alberta, because she has a very big brain.
Alberta and Coco (the Chief of police) are guinea pigs by the way and their story is a quick paced, easy read for independent readers aged 9+. It is especially good for those readers who don't like large novels and as part of a series, children can follow these guinea pig cousins as they crack more mysteries.
As Alberta and Coco get to the bottom of the strange pineapple, Coco ends up solving another police issue. Maybe he is not that silly after all.
The book includes illustrations to help solve the mystery and it asks the reader questions along the way, helping involve them in the mystery.
Kylie Kempster