The Case of the Hunchback Hairdresser

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The Case of the

Hunchback Hairdresser

by Carole Marsh

Copyright ©2006 Carole Marsh/Gallopade International All rights reserved.

First Edition Ebook edition Copyright ©2011 Carole Marsh Mysteries™ and its skull colophon are the property of Carole Marsh and Gallopade International.

Published by Gallopade International/Carole Marsh Books.

Printed in the United States of America.

Managing Editor: Sherry Moss Cover Design: Michele Winkelman Illustrations: Yvonne Ford, Cecil Anderson, Jennifer Appel

Gallopade is proud to be a member and supporter of these educational organizations and associations: American Booksellers Association International Reading Association National Association for Gifted Children The National School Supply and Equipment Association The National Council for the Social Studies Museum Store Association Association of Partners for Public Lands

Art by: Aimee Applesauce Proofreading by: Leah Criss Page-numbering by: Sara Cross Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

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Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

Dedicated to all mystery-loving and mystery-solving girls everywhere!

A Word From the Author Dear Readers, Have you ever had a new neighbor?

Have you ever felt different? Have you ever made someone else feel different? Have you ever made someone else feel better?

Life brings us mysterious surprises sometimes.

One of the biggest surprises is that we can do things we did not think we can do. Join my Crisscross girls as they figure out a little about life and a lot about themselves.

Carole Marsh PS: Read The Hunchback of Notre Dame! Also, learn to make homemade chocolate fudge!!

About Criss, Cross, and t Applesauce, Defectives

Aimee

Leah

Sara

Leah Criss, Sara Cross, and Aimee Applesauce are best friends.

Leah is 7. Sara is 8. Aimee is 9.

They live on the same street. Leah lives next door to Sara. Sara lives next door to Aimee.

They go to the same school. Leah’s classroom is next to Sara’s. Sara’s classroom is next to Aimee’s.

They ride the school bus together. They eat lunch together.

They go to recess together. Sometimes they get in trouble together. They like to solve riddles, mysteries, and puzzles together. Or, at least they like to try!

That’s the reason that one day, the three girls formed the t Criss, Cross, Applesauce Defective Agency. They named it that because those are their names...and also, because “criss/cross/applesauce” is how they like to sit when they are trying to figure out their newest mystery! Maybe you can help them?

Books In This Series The Case of the Hunchback Hairdresser The Riddle of the Missing Puppies The Puzzle of the Shark Surfer Girl

Table Of Contents A New Neighbor....................................................................page 1 Meeting and Greeting ...................................................page 11 Cooking Up Trouble .....................................................page 27 Nobody Knows the Truffles I’ve Seen ............page 41 About The Creator......................................................page 49 Built-in Book Club! ......................................................page 50 Tech Connects ..................................................................page 52

The Case of the

Hunchback Hairdresser

by Carole Marsh

A New Neighbor

1 one

Leah Criss was eating cereal for breakfast. Her dad sat across the table from her. He was doing what he always did-reading the paper.

That was not surprising since he was a newspaper reporter.

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Whenever he saw his name in the paper, he showed it to Leah.

She always said, “Wow, Dad! You are so famous!”

And he always said, “I just want to be famous to you.”

Leah wondered how her dad had gotten so smart at reading and writing. Both of those were her hardest subjects. Oh, yeah, except for spelling, math, and science-they were hard for her too.

On this morning, Leah’s dad surprised her by saying, “I have another case for you girls to solve-if you have time.”

Leah smiled. “Oh, Dad, we 2

always have time to help you. That’s why we started the Criss, Cross, t Applesauce Defective Agency.”

Leah remembered when they first started the agency. It had been her dad’s idea. He was the one who corrected “defective” and made it “detective.”

“What’s the case, Dad?” Leah asked.

Her dad jiggled the pencil behind his ear. He always jiggled the pencil behind his ear 3

when he was thinking. “We have a new neighbor,” he said.

Leah looked puzzled. “That does not seem like a mystery,” she said.

Her dad smiled. “Maybe you girls should go and meet her,” he said, mysteriously.

Leah pulled on her backpack.

She tugged the straps tight and ran down the steps of her apartment building. At just the same time, Sara pulled on her backpack and ran down the steps of her apartment building. Just then, Aimee ran out of her house. She was wearing her backpack, too.

The three girls waved to one 4

another like they always did. They met at the bus stop and cried:

, S S O R C , S S I R “C APPLESAUCE!”

They hugged each other and giggled. While they waited for the school bus, Leah told her friends, “Dad has a case for us!”

“What?” squealed Sara.

“A new neighbor,” Leah said.

Aimee frowned. “That does not sound so mysterious.”

“Dad said we should go and meet her,” Leah said.

“Where does she live?”

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asked Sara.

The girls looked all around.

They did not see anyone up the street or down the street. They did not see a moving truck. They did not see any discarded boxes on the street. There was no clue as to where their mysterious new neighbor might live.

Suddenly the girls heard a loud

SCREEEEECH. They looked across the street and saw a door opening.

“Surely no one lives in that creepy old place,” said Leah. “It is 6

like a haunted house.”

As the girls watched, an old woman slipped out of the door. She did not look like anyone that they had ever seen. She was very short.

She wore old-fashioned clothes that looked like they came from some foreign country. She had a babushka scarf tied over her head.

But mostly what the girls noticed was that she had a big hump on her back!

“Oooh, what’s wrong with her?”

Sara whispered.

“She’s a hunchback,” Aimee whispered back.

“What’s a humpback?”

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asked Leah.

“Not a humpback!” said Aimee.

“A humpback is a kind of whale.

A hunchback.”

“Well, what’s that?” asked Sara.

“It’s a deformity. It’s when your spine grows bent over and you grow a hump on your back,” Aimee explained. “My aunt Agnes has one.”

The girls stared at the woman as she trudged down the street. She carried a big, rumpled shopping bag.

“She looks scary to me,” said Sara. “I don’t think I want to meet her.”

“If we don’t meet her, we can’t solve the case,” Leah reminded them.

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“But what is the case?” asked Sara.

“That’s the first mystery,” said Leah.

But the girls would not find out anything new about their new neighbor yet, because the school bus was rumbling down the potholed street towards them.

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