Captain Coconut and the Case of the Missing Banana by Anushka Ravishankhar and Priya Sundram (Tara Books)

As you've probably worked out by now, we're huge fans of detective stories on the blog. If there's a mystery to solve, we're there! We love originality too and when "Captain Coconut and the Case of the Missing Banana" popped into our inbox, we couldn't resist its charms.

Tara Books have a distinct knack for producing the most beautiful and original books, so we knew that this was going to be a treat. Imagine a hectic and energetic mix of a truly original protagonist suffused with Bollywood musical numbers (yes, exactly!) and you have "Captain Coconut and the Case of the Missing Banana".

There's a number mystery to solve here, with the aid of the rather eccentric (and paisley-nosed) Captain Coconut - ace detective. His keen elephant-like brain works logically through any problem, so when the captain receives a mysterious teary phone call, he's soon on the case.

Speeding off to the scene on his moped (once he's started it, of course) the captain soon meets Mrs Y, the mysterious phone caller. She informs Captain Coconut that some of the bananas she had purchased the day before have gone missing!

With his keenly observant eyes, and use of unflappable logic, Captain Coconut is drawn deeper into the mystery - after a song of course (and you can BET we had fun singing Captain Coconut's various sing-a-long interludes! What a genius idea to include these in the book!)

Will the Captain solve the missing 'nana mystery? We won't spoil the end for you but you are in for a heck of a treat with this book, it's utterly hilarious and brilliant!

Charlotte's best bit: Captain Coconut's rather dashing song "He's a Rock!"

Daddy's Favourite bit: It's funny, it's quirky, it's wholly original - you'll never have read a detective story as brilliant as this! Hooray for Captain Coconut!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Tara Books)