Collectible-creature mysteries · Ages 6–10

THE NOT QUITE NORMAL MYSTERIES

discover them all

Solve the case. Meet the creature. Collect the dossier. In the seaside town of Saltwhistle, the ordinary hides the extraordinary — and only the kids who check twice get invited to help.

Not Quite Normal Book 1 — The Lighthouse That Blinked Back Not Quite Normal Book 2 — The Fair That Never Loses Not Quite Normal Book 3 — The Island That Wasn't There Yesterday

Three cases. Three creatures. One Index.

Every book is a fair-play mystery readers can solve themselves — with one impossibly shy creature and one real piece of science woven right into the clues.

The Lighthouse That Blinked Back
Book One

The Lighthouse That Blinked Back

PRISMKIN — follows light. fears applause.

Riley Vale asks questions. The lighthouse isn't supposed to answer. When the old light across the bay starts blinking back, Riley and her friend Milo open the case — and the library's abandoned card catalog sneezes out a card that writes itself.

★ Real science: how a Fresnel lens bends light
The Fair That Never Loses
Book Two

The Fair That Never Loses

RUFFLEBOLT — tumbles to charge. loves soft things.

The Saltwhistle Fair has a problem: nobody can lose. Near-miss rings twitch onto posts. Balls roll home. And at closing time, the prizes climb off the shelves and follow someone home. Telling everyone what you know is not the same as knowing it.

★ Real science: why a balloon sticks to your hair
The Island That Wasn't There Yesterday
Book Three

The Island That Wasn't There Yesterday

SANDSTITCH — builds islands overnight.

The island arrived before breakfast. A pale sandbar sits past the harbor wall where none was yesterday — striped with neat little rows, and moving. The town blames Harbor Master Bell. The council wants to dredge it away by Friday. Precedent tells you where to look — not what you'll find.

★ Real science: how waves carry sand down a coast

Every creature gets a card.

The old library Index writes a dossier for every creature Riley meets — its name, its tell, the one real fact that explains it. And inside every book, there's a blank card waiting for you to complete your own. Collect the dossier across the series.

CARD No. ? ? what is it?

…do not complete Card No. 13.

Open the Index →
The Not Quite Normal Field Kit — free printable activity pack
Free printable · Ages 6–10

Grab the free Field Kit

Three creatures to color, your very own blank Index card to fill in, and three real-science experiments to try at home — one from each case. We'll send it straight to your inbox.

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About R. R. Vale

R. R. Vale writes fair-play mysteries kids can actually solve — every clue is right there on the page. Each story pairs one impossibly shy creature with one real piece of science, from the bend of a lighthouse lens to the way the tide carries a coastline grain by grain. Curious kids, careful thinking, and the quiet thrill of being the one who checked twice.

For Riley and Ryker — the original investigators.

New cases all year.

Three books are just the beginning — the Index has thirteen cards. Follow R. R. Vale on Amazon to hear the moment a new Not Quite Normal mystery lands.

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