Platypus Police Squad Books in Order

The Platypus Police Squad books are funny middle-grade mysteries set in Kalamazoo City, a place where animals run businesses, hold office, make trouble, and sometimes need a detective. The cases are built like kid-friendly police procedurals, complete with suspects, clues, partners, stakeouts, and plenty of dry jokes.

At the center are Detective Rick Zengo and Detective Corey O'Malley, two platypuses with very different approaches to the job. Zengo is the eager rookie. He wants to make a name for himself and live up to his family's history on the force. O'Malley is the experienced, no-nonsense partner who does not always share Zengo's enthusiasm. Their bickering and loyalty give the series its engine.

They make an odd pair, which is exactly why they work.

In The Frog Who Croaked, Zengo and O'Malley are thrown together on a case involving a missing teacher and suspicious fish. The investigation also brings them into the orbit of Frank Pandini Jr., a wealthy panda businessman whose family history gives the detectives plenty of reasons to stay alert. The book introduces the city's mix of old-fashioned detective talk, strange local politics, and animal-based silliness.

Each following story raises a new problem for Kalamazoo City. The Ostrich Conspiracy sends the detectives into the chaos surrounding a huge new entertainment complex. In Last Panda Standing, a threat against Frank Pandini Jr. puts the squad on protection duty and adds Jo Cooper to the partnership. By Never Say Narwhal, Pandini is mayor, the detectives are struggling to close cases, and something large and mysterious is moving through the water around the city.

The ongoing thread is not one giant puzzle that has to be solved all at once. Instead, it is the changing relationship between the detectives, their city, and the influential Pandini family. Readers get a complete mystery in each book, but details from earlier cases make the later adventures more fun.

The tone is light, quick, and knowingly goofy. There are chase scenes and danger, but the books never lose sight of the joke that hard-boiled detectives are, in this case, platypuses. Start with The Frog Who Croaked to meet Zengo and O'Malley at the beginning of their partnership.