Not much time has passed since the thrilling adventure surrounding the stolen treasure of Castle MacGorilla, but our three intrepid investigators—Teddy, Porculina, and Gorilla—are once again called upon to solve a baffling mystery. On this occasion, the action moves from the stark, cold highlands of Scotland to the lush and warmly sunlit Loire Valley in France, but the perils encountered by the trio are no less daunting and the puzzle is, if anything, all the more perplexing. Indeed, it is a puzzle that stretches into the remotest reaches of history, all the way back to ancient Egypt. There are chases, secret doors, samples of Eastern wisdom and French poetry, and biscuits. And then, too, there is the little matter of a recurrent ghostly apparition. Can a small teddy bear detective, however seasoned, aided only by an even smaller plush pig and an easily distracted toy ape—with the occasional assistance of a wise and longsuffering dog—discover the terrible truth before the all-important day of the Cider Festival?
Praise
“There is only one thing better than a new book by David Bentley Hart, and that’s a new book by David Bentley Hart and Patrick Robert Hart. The Mystery of the Green Star not only sees the return of Gorilla MacGorilla (‘Gor-Gor’) and his friends, but initiates the reader, through a splendid assortment of karate gis, koans, and anecdotes, into the most marvelous new philosophy, the Way of the Idjit (which makes one think and think), and introduces a splendid new cuisine: Chinese-Welsh fusion. While the ghost at the heart of the mystery represents, for the dramatis personae, ‘sour cabbage’ (as the delightful Porculina describes it), for the reader its arrival in the story is honey on a crumpet. This is a delicious work. A book for the ages, and for all ages.”—STEPHEN
MCINERNEY, author of In Your Absence and The Wind Outside
“The Harts have gifted us yet another charming whodunnit: two parts Arthur Conan Doyle, one part Lewis Carroll, and a dash of P.G. Wodehouse for good measure, a confection as strange and somehow congruous as Sino-Cymric cuisine. Don your teal uwagi. ‘I feel a mood of whimsy coming on.’”—STEVEN TOUSSAINT, author of The Bellfounder and Lay Studies
“Set in a cursed château, this delightful and philosophically rich detective tale brings readers deep into the captivating world of the soft toys. Infused with the mystical arts and ancient wisdom, this beautifully illustrated book begins in doubt and ends in magic. This is one of those books you live inside of for a while, and then it lives inside
you.”—JENNIFER BANKS, author of Natality: Toward a Philosophy of Birth
“Together, David Bentley Hart and his son Patrick Robert Hart have written a supernatural mystery—the second of the MacGorilla series—that will be enjoyed as much by adults as by children. It pursues a distinctively Hartian project of bewitchment, with a world where magic is an organizing principle of the universe and of the ‘renunciation of sterile rationalism.’ These educated soft toys display too much heart and subversion to lapse into parody, and ask the reader to consider ‘that we are all moral by
nature’ (and that it is neither complacent nor childish to think so).”—TARIQ GODARD, author of High John the Conqueror
About the Author
DAVID BENTLEY HART and PATRICK ROBERT HART are both writers, raconteurs, and dilettantes. David is Patrick’s father, which is quite a singular coincidence
since Patrick is David’s son. Both have beards, but one has hair on his scalp as well; the one who does not is very envious of this.
JEROME ATHERHOLT studied classical realism at the Schuler School of Fine Art in Baltimore, MD. After completing its 5-year certificate program, Jerome taught drawing and still-life painting at the Schuler School for 11 years. Jerome recently retired as a senior digital artist at Firaxis Games after nearly 29 years in the computer game industry. His website is www.jeromeatherholtart.com
