Chapter 1

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DEDICATION For little detectives everywhere.

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Maya loved her prayer book more than anything. It was small and blue with gold letters on the front, and Grandpa had given it to her on her seventh birthday.

"This book is special," Grandpa had said. "It has prayers for every feeling. When you are happy, when you are sad, when you are scared, when you are grateful. The prayers are like little conversations with God."

Maya read from it every morning and every night. She kept it on her bedside table, right next to her lamp.

But on Tuesday morning, it was gone.

Maya looked under her pillow. She looked under her bed. She looked in her backpack, her closet, and even inside her shoes (because you never know).

"Mama! My prayer book is missing!"

Mama came to help look, but they couldn't find it anywhere.

"When did you last see it?" Mama asked.

"Last night! I read the bedtime prayer and put it right there." Maya pointed to the empty spot on her table.

This was a mystery. And Maya was going to solve it.

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"Crumbs!" Maya said. "Someone was eating crackers near my table!"

She went to the kitchen. The cracker box was on the counter, and it was almost empty. Only her little brother Darius ate that many crackers.

"Darius!" she marched to his room. "Did you take my prayer book?"

Darius was three. He looked up from his toy trucks with big innocent eyes. "No."

"Were you eating crackers in my room?"

"Maybe." Darius was not a good liar.

"Did you see my book?"

"The blue one? It fell behind the thing."

"What thing?"

Darius pointed vaguely. "The thing. The big thing."

Maya ran back to her room and looked behind the "big thing" — her bookshelf. And there, wedged between the bookshelf and the wall, was her prayer book. It had apparently been knocked off the table when Darius was sneaking crackers in the dark.

Mystery solved! But Maya wasn't angry. She remembered what they'd learned in children's class about patience and forgiveness.

"Darius," she said, picking up her brother, "next time you want crackers at night, just ask me. And please don't touch my prayer book, okay?"

Maya smiled and opened the blue book. "Sure. Let's read one together."

She read the short obligatory prayer, the one she'd memorized in children's class. Darius listened with his big eyes, and even though he probably didn't understand all the words, he sat very still.

"Again," he said when she finished.

So she read it again. And that, Maya decided, was the best ending any mystery could have.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Crimson Ark Publishing creates gentle mystery stories for young readers.