Eu, Detetive: O Caso do Sumiço

I know that I go back to my childhood for many of my posts. I don’t mean to say that good things haven’t happened recently to me. Definitely, they have. For now, I feel I need to revisit the first impressions I had in my life. When I ponder about best gifts I’ve ever received, I can’t stop thinking about books. They have captured my attention very early, so they always have made the greatest gifts for me. And I believe I can pinpoint the exact moment that helped me fell in love with them. Eu, Detetive: O Caso do Sumiço was probably one of the first books I was gifted.

A celebrity in my classroom

Stella Carr Ribeiro was already a renowned author of children and young adult novels. When she went to my school, Colégio Brasília, it was like hosting a celebrity in our classroom. I was probably nine or ten years old then. We had a really good time with her. She told us a bit about the books she had written and we played some games together. She was also interested about themes and stories that the students wanted to see in her future books. It was a bit of market research, if you will, but I loved every minute.

Winning the giveaway

After we got to know her, it was time to say goodbye. But before that, she announced a surprise. She would give one of her books to one of the students and to one only. I focused all my mental energy on the bowl in front of her. She would take a slip of paper from it containing the name of one of us. It had to be mine, I wanted that so badly. And what was my satisfaction when she indeed called my name! It was a dream come true. I was gifted my first book directly from the hands of a renowned author. It was signed and everything. I read it afterwards with the greatest of pleasures.

I, Detective

For those who are curious, this is the cover and the dust jacket info. I remember it as if it was yesterday. It was Eu, Detetive – O Caso do Sumiço.

Eu, Detetive (I, Detective) is a book with a unique approach, aiming to combine game and literature. Each location in a small town serves as a chapter. It delivers a different clue to our heroes—Miúdo, Rita, Rapa, and I (the reader). The reader can simply go through the book from start to finish. Alternatively, they can join friends and read it in a random order. Each person tries to come up with their own solution to the mystery.

A musical group called Quarteto Segura as Calças disappears just before their first big show. They received a threatening note shortly before. There are several suspects. These include the rival girl band, the band’s former manager, a jealous young man, and a competing hotel near the concert venue.

The authors’ predetermined ending reveals that the former manager teamed up with the gas station’s Japanese attendant. The attendant was in love with the guitarist’s girlfriend. Together, they kidnapped the group. However, readers are encouraged to come up with their own possible endings.

There was another of her books that I read also, O Fantástico Homem do Metrô. I am sure that Stella Carr hugely contributed for my taste in detective and CSI literature.