Bill Bergson was a detective in the tradition of Sherlock Holmes, and following his methods of shrewd observation and brilliant deduction, he brought about the downfall of many a gifted criminal.

The only trouble was that he had to imagine most of it. The well-behaved village of Littletown offered little scope for detective genius. But there was ample scope for the exercise of ingenuity in other ways, and Bill and his friends Anders and Eva-Lotta, the lady of both their hearts, enlivened their summer with all sorts of resourceful fun—expeditions to the town's ruined castle, a home-made circus, and wonderful swashbuckling warfare with their rival gang, the Red Roses.

Then all of a sudden they found themselves involved in a real adventure that finished up with a breakneck pursuit—in a Stockholm police car—of escaping jewel thieves!

The contrast of such dramatic goings-on with the normally peaceful life of a small Swedish village adds to the fun of a story full of the drollery of three thirteen-year-olds and the quiet, kindly humor of grownups wise enough to leave them to their own devices. Even Bill was glad to go back to the comparative tranquillity of the Wars of the Roses, after covering himself with glory as a full-fledged detective!

From the dust jacket