Roll up! Roll up! The Shortbread Family Circus is in town! Introducing the first tale in The Big Top Mysteries, an exciting new series from Alexander McCall Smith and illustrator Sam Usher.

Billy, Fern and Joe Shortbread are the stars of their family circus, but they also have another talent ? they’re experts at solving mysteries! When their circus moves into a new town they soon make friends with a young boy named Tom. But Tom can’t enjoy the circus because his granny has disappeared and he’s worried he’ll never see her again. With the help of their astonishing circus skills can the Shortbread circus stars crack the clues and find Tom’s granny?

Read a sample here