The Case of the Missing Case

7/29/2019 The Case of the Missing Case

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-case-of-the-missing-case 1/19

by Anne Miranda

illustrated by John Hovell



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ISBN 0-15-323163-7

Ordering Options

ISBN 0-15-325518-8 (Grade 3 On-Level Collection)

ISBN 0-15-327019-5 (package of 5)

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b Anne Miranda

by Anne Miranda

illustrated by John Hovell

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2

Miss Tourees sat on the balcony of her sunny

San Francisco apartment. She sipped a cup of

peppermint tea and read the morning

newspaper.

“This is interesting.‘Fiddle Fest 500,’” she read

aloud.“‘A world famous violinist will be joined

by 499 fiddlers, adults and children alike. It will

be the largest fiddle festival ever.’ Hmmm,

sounds great. I’ll mark it on my calendar.”



3

Suddenly, the phone rang. A new case!

Miss Tourees sprang up and answered it.

“Hello!” she said cheerfully.

“Is this Miss Tourees, the world famous

detective?” asked a voice.

“This is she,” replied the detective.

“I am Wolfgang Berlioz Beethoven Bach,

the world famous violinist!” said the voice.

“Have you ever heard of me?”

“Ah, yes. I was just reading about you in

the paper!” said Miss Tourees.“How can I

help you, Mr. Bach?”

“Please, call me Wolfie,” said Wolfie.“I

want to report a missing case.”



4

“Could you be more specific?” asked

Miss Tourees. She grabbed her detective

notebook to write down clues.

“My violin case is missing from the symphony

hall,” said Wolfie.

“Was your violin in the case?” asked Miss

Tourees.

“No, thank goodness. It’s priceless,” said

Wolfie.“The case is not worth much. I don’t think

it would be of any special interest to a thief. Still,

it’s important to me that the case be returned.”

“I’m sure I can solve the case of the missing

case,” said Miss Tourees.“I’ll meet you at thehall in ten minutes!”



Miss Tourees met Wolfie onstage exactly ten

minutes later. He was there with his assistant,

Miss Russet.

“Let’s get right to work,” said the detective.“Where did you see the case last?”

“Mr. B handed me the case during the

rehearsal for Fiddle Fest 500,” said Miss Russet.

“I’m sure I put it in his dressing room.”

“Are you positive?” asked Miss Tourees.“Yes, I’m positive. I definitely put the case in

the dressing room,” replied Miss Russet.

“Can anyone but you get into the dressing

room?” the detective asked.

“Just the janitor, Mr. Medley.”

5



6

“Let’s find him!” said Miss Tourees.

They located Mr. Medley backstage,

cleaning a kettledrum.“I’d like to ask you a few questions about

a missing case,” the detective began.

“Missing case? There isn’t a single missing

case in the place. I was asked to put all the

violin cases in the storeroom. I put all 500 of

them in there this morning!”

“What?” shouted the detective.

“There are 500 violinists in the Fiddle Fest,

and there are 500 cases in the storeroom. I

even got your case from your dressing room,

Mr. B. Come, I’ll show you,” said Mr. Medley.



7

Mr. Medley led them to the basementand unlocked a big door.“See?”

Sure enough, there were 500 violin cases

stacked inside the room: big cases, small

cases, brown cases, black cases, curvy

cases, rectangular cases, cases with name

tags, and cases without name tags.

“But which one is mine?” cried Wolfie.

“I have no idea,” said Mr. Medley.“Now, if

you’ll excuse me, I have to go back to

work.” Mr. Medley left them standing in the

middle of the storeroom.



8

The detective paced the floor. How would

she find Wolfie’s violin case in that mixed-up

mess? “This is really a BIG problem,” she

mumbled to herself. Then a light went on in

her head.“Wolfie, is your violin case big, or is

it small?”

“It’s big, of course,” said Wolfie.“I am not

a child. I play a full-size violin.”

“Miss Russet, would you help me sort

through the cases?” asked Miss Tourees.

“I’d love to assist you,” said Miss Russet.

“What else are assistants for?”



9

Miss Tourees and Miss Russet arranged the

violin cases in two groups. They put the big

violin cases on the right side of the room

and the small violin cases on the left side of

the room.

“Do you see your case on the right side of

the room?” asked Miss Tourees.

“No, no! It’s impossible to find it among all

those big cases. There must be 300 cases on

the right side of the room,” said Wolfie.

“I’m afraid I don’t see it either,” said Miss

Russet.



“We will have to sort them out again,”

said the professor.“Is your case black, or is it

brown?”

“It is black,” said Wolfie.

“Miss Russet, would you help once

again?” asked Miss Tourees.

“Sure,” she said.

Miss Tourees and Miss Russet separated

the pile of big violin cases on the right side

of the room into two smaller piles. They put

the brown violin cases into one pile and the

black ones into another pile.

10



11

“Can you choose your case from this pile

of big, black cases?” asked Miss Tourees.

“Definitely not,” said Wolfie.

“Then we will have to sort them yet

again,” said the detective.“Is your big, black

case curvy, or is it rectangular?”

“It’s curvy, like the shape of the violin,”

replied Wolfie.

Miss Russet didn’t wait to be asked. She

helped Miss Tourees separate the curvy

black cases from the rectangular ones.



12

“Is there any chance you can pick your

case from these big, black, curvy cases?”

huffed Miss Tourees.“There must be fifty cases to choose from.

How could I possibly find mine?” said Wolfie.

“Well, does your case have a name tag?”

asked the detective.

“Why should I use a name tag? I know myown case. Well, in most cases I know my own

case. Except in this case. This is an unusual

case, don’t you think?” asked Wolfie.

“Quite,” said Miss Tourees.



13

“In case you lose your case again, a

name tag will come in handy,” said the

detective as she and Miss Russet removed

the cases with the name tags from the pile.

“Your case is definitely in this last pile.

Here are all the big, black, curvy violin cases

without name tags. Do you see yours?”

“All these cases look the same. Which one

is mine? I can’t tell,” said Wolfie.



14

Miss Tourees scratched her head. She

wondered what else she could do. She

wanted to solve the case of the missing

case. Then she had an idea.“Is there

anything inside your case?”

“A bow and some rosin,” said Wolfie.“All

violinists carry such things.”

“Think hard. Did you put anything else

inside your case?” asked the detective.

“Just my lunch,” said Wolfie.“A sardine

sandwich, a big slice of blue cheese, and

some pickled

cabbage!”



15

“Get sniffing, Miss Russet!”

shouted Wolfie.“Find the stinky case!”

Miss Tourees and Miss Russet sniffed all the

big, black, curvy cases without name tags.“Yuck, I think I found it,” said Miss Tourees,

holding her nose and a violin case.

Wolfie grabbed the stinky case and

opened it.“Yes, yes! You’ve done it!” he

shouted.“You’ve returned my missing case!How can I ever thank you enough?”



16

“Eat that stinky lunch as quickly as

possible,” groaned Miss Tourees.

“I second that,” said Wolfie’s assistant.

“It would be rude of me to eat this in front

of you.Would you like to share my lunch?

There’s enough for everyone!” said Wolfie.

“NO!” shouted Miss Tourees and Miss Russet.

“Positive?” asked Wolfie.

“Positive,” they replied.

Once again, Miss Tourees had solved a

mystery, in this case, the case of the missing

STINKY case.



1 What “clues” on the cover tell you that this

story is a mystery?2 On page 11, how did you go about decoding

the word rectangular ?3 How did Miss Tourees solve the mystery of

the missing case?4 What did you learn about violins from

reading this story?5 How does Miss Tourees’s view of Wolfie

change from the beginning of the story to

the end?6 What did you think about the way Miss

Tourees solved the mystery? How would

you have handled the case?

Facts Pick an instrument to learn about. Find

facts in a book or encyclopedia. Share your

facts with the class.

Think and Respond

School-Home Connection Share this story

with a family member. Choose something athome that you can sort into categories. Make a

chart like the one in the book.

Documents

The Case of the Missing Case