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  • Published: 27 June 2016
  • ISBN: 9780143309192
  • Imprint: Puffin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 112
  • RRP: $17.99

Frankie Potts and the Bikini Burglar (Book 2)




Book 2 in Juliet Jacka's fabulous new chapter-book series about Frankie Potts, amateur detective. Frankie and her dog Sparkplug tackle a burglar with a taste for sparkly swimwear. Will Frankie be able to catch the burglar, claim the reward, and find a suitable human sidekick?

Book 2 in Juliet Jacka's addictive new Frankie Potts series for readers ages 7–10.
Meet Frankie Potts, the village of Tring's number one girl detective. She has flaming red hair, a questioning mind and a very clever dog named Sparkplug. And she is REALLY good at solving mysteries.
Frankie is on the lookout for a human detective sidekick to share her caseload. Finding the right person isn't as easy as you'd think, and she's never had more to juggle. Right now she's having to contend with a new boy from Borneo, whose tales are taller and wilder than his wild black hair; the meanest school office lady in Tring; her arch-enemy Ralph Peter-McGee and his equally brutish ginger tomcat; and helping her Grandma M train a troupe of greyhounds.
Meanwhile, Tring is on high alert — a burglar is on the loose. Random pink items, most notably a bikini belonging to Frankie's teacher, are disappearing from houses all over the village. An exhibition of bejewelled items is just about to open, with a pink, diamond-encrusted bikini as its showpiece. The temptation will be too great for any self-respecting burglar to stay away.
And self-respecting solver of mysteries Frankie is determined to catch the burglar in the act . . . but in her efforts to tidy up her mystery list single-handed, is Frankie ignoring some very important clues?

  • Published: 27 June 2016
  • ISBN: 9780143309192
  • Imprint: Puffin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 112
  • RRP: $17.99

About the authors

Juliet Jacka

Juliet Jacka started writing junior fiction stories when she was on maternity leave with her first daughter (who was luckily a good sleeper). Juliet's first book Night of the Perigee Moon won the 2013 Tom Fitzgibbon Storylines Award and was published in 2014 by Scholastic. Her story The Keeper of Spirit Hill was shortlisted in Tom Fitzgibbon competitions in 2011 and 2013. Her delightful chapter-book series about Frankie Potts, red-haired girl detective was launched by Puffin in July 2016 with #1 Frankie Potts and the Sparkplug Mysteries and #2 Frankie Potts and the Bikini Burglar.

Juliet is pleased to be carrying on a family tradition by becoming a published author: she's the third generation to do so. She lives in one of Wellington's hilly suburbs in a red house by a railway line, with her husband and two young daughters. Juliet juggles writing with family life and her work, which involves doing inscrutable digital stuff with websites.

Phoebe Morris

Phoebe Morris has been drawing for herself since 1996, and for other people since 2013. From a small studio in Wellington, she has collaborated with acclaimed author David Hill on award-winning picture book biographies of famous New Zealanders for Penguin Random House New Zealand: Sir Edmund Hillary (First to the Top, 2015), Burt Munro (Speed King, 2016), Jean Batten (Sky High, 2017), Sir Peter Blake (Hero of the Sea, 2018), Joan Wiffen (Dinosaur Hunter, 2019) and Jacinda Ardern (Taking the Lead, 2020).

Phoebe is also the illustrator of the Frankie Potts junior fiction series by Juliet Jacka.

In 2021 Phoebe illustrated The Adventures of Mittens by Silvio Bruinsma, following the adventures of Wellington's most famous exploring ginger cat.

Unanimously praised for the quality of the illustrations, First to the Top was named a 2016 Storylines Notable Picture Book. In a review for the New Zealand Listener, Ann Packer wrote 'Wellingtonian Phoebe Morris makes a stunning debut as an illustrator ... from the arresting cover, through cameos of his younger life, to haunting, other-worldly mountainscapes, Morris's style gives the old story a cool new edge.'

In 2018 Phoebe was shortlisted for the Russell Clark Award for Illustration in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.

Though much of her work focuses on narrative storytelling, Phoebe also creates illustrations for apps, websites, editorials, animation and interior design. Find out more about her work at phoebemorriscreative.com

Praise for Frankie Potts and the Bikini Burglar (Book 2)

This is the second in the Frankie Potts series, and does a fantastic job of widening Frankie's world, bringing in friends (and enemies!) from school to help her solve a hot pink mess.

Sarah Forster, Booksellers NZ