Ask a Bookseller: The Mighty Muskrats mystery series by Michael Hutchinson

On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now.With school back in session this month, Ask a Bookseller is focusing on books for kids. Author and bookseller Rosanne Parry of Annie Blooms Books in Portland, Oregon, starts us off with a middle-grade mystery series, perfect for fans of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. There are five books in Michael Hutchinson’s Mighty Muskrat series, with a new book forthcoming next year.The series features four mystery-solving cousins living on the fictional Windy Lake reservation in Canada. Hutchinson is a member of the Misipawistik Cree Nation.  Parry says the mysteries are active and well-paced, fun for kids and nostalgic for parents and grandparents. She also appreciates that they address contemporary concerns: “The mysteries are typical of the kid mystery genre — missing people, lost or stolen items and rigged sports events. Hutchinson weaves in information about his Cree heritage and issues relevant to First Nations without ever being heavy-handed, and he livens it all with humor. In the first one, “The Case of Windy Lake,” for example, they're looking for a missing archaeologist. Is archaeology on an Indian reservation fraught? It is. “He gets into that a little bit without it, it being heavy-handed. The series presents First Nations communities in the present day and actively engaged in the wider world in ways I seldom see in children’s literature.” The titles are:  The Case of Windy Lake The Case of the Missing Auntie The Case of the Burgled Bundle The Case of the Rigged Race The Case of the Pilfered Pin The Case of the Movie Mayhem (spring 2026) (Emily’s note: Rosanne Parry is an excellent author in her own right; she writes the Voice in the Wilderness Middle Grade series. Each book is written from the point of view of a wild animal, including wolves, horses, and orcas. Her most recent book, published this year, is “A Wolf Called Fire.”)