Donald Kirk
A Young Detectives Mystery™ for junior teens. Softcover edition. Pen & Ink illustrations by the author. Jason Lockwood and Wendy Whitecastle meet in a small fishing village called Crab Creek and are thrown into a mystery brimming with thrilling action and wild adventures as they, along with a raucous old seafaring captain, try to discover the secret of the haunted Skull Island. For all boys and girls, ages 10 to 14, who like thrilling adventure stories and Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys-type mysteries. Includes glossary of nautical terms. Reviews: "Great, fun novel for kids who like to lay in bed at night and read." and "I couldn't put the thing down, read it straight through and I'm 73."A mysterious young man turns up at a little fishing village called Crab Creek asking for a ride out to an even more mysterious Island that no one dares go hear. Because of its appearance on a nautical map, it was known as Skull Island, or was there another reason for the name? Lights in the old Sutton mansion could be seen going on and off—and there was supposedly no one on the island! Jason Lockwood, the mysterious young man, meets up with a pretty young girl named Wendy Whitecastle and her seafaring uncle, Captain Christopher, a raucous old white-bearded gentleman who lives in a lighthouse on a rocky precipitous overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The three soon find themselves trying to solve the strange goings-on on the mysterious island. They discover a haunted mansion and below it a huge underground cavern of dripping water and dark twists and turns. They have the adventure of a lifetime on a fishing trawler piloted by a crazy coot named “Catfish” as a banker named J.D. Tackert and his frightful crew of cutthroats follow close behind, everyone out to find a long lost hidden treasure.Donald Kirk, also know as the Captain,” has been writing stories for kids since he himself was one. Starting at age 8, he was writing and illustrating cartoon strips, the most famous, Long Nose of Long Nose Town. In middle school, he wrote Professor Plugnickle’s Theory of the Human Body and The Adventures of Commando Cudie. And in high school, he wrote illustrated books like Murphy’s Mad Monster Murder Mysteries and Mistress Mary’s Mortal Magic Mischief. The purpose of these books: to have stories to read to his two younger brothers. But writing was not his thing, his youngest brother became the writer of the family and Donald went on to study architecture, art, and filmmaking. It wasn’t until the eighties that he wrote the screenplay for Discovery Bay, and later turned it into this entertaining and suspenseful novel guaranteed to keep anyone of any age on the edge of their seats.
