"Everyone wants to be a Goofball in this little town, and readers will want to follow their cases in the future. That #1 on the spine ensures that there will be many more adventures from these goofy friends." --Kirkus Reviews
"Targeting readers who like a lot of humor with their mysteries, Abbott includes a great deal of wordplay and slapstick, and stretches the goofball joke to its limit (Jeff's dog even barks, "Goof! Goof!"). Madden's cartoons add to the fun, and Abbott's clipped, dialogue-driven text is accessible for beginning readers and creates just the hint of a noir atmosphere." --Publishers Weekly
"The plot moves along quickly from clue to clue, enabling readers to test their own powers of deduction. . . . Bold black, white, and gray illustrations appear on almost every spread. Illustrations also suggest the multiracial make-up of the Goofballs. The humor consists of mostly pratfalls (tumbling into doorways, getting stuck in a...