Watts and Whiskerton: Sabotage at the Fete Cake Bake

Watts is looking forward to seeing Pearl again at the Little Gossip Village Fete where his parents, the world’s greatest detectives, are judging the cake baking competition. However, disaster strikes when cake mix explodes out of the ovens and accusations of sabotage start flying around. Can Watts and Whiskerton crack the case?

I really enjoyed Watts and Whiskerton’s first case and so was delighted to read ‘Sabotage at the Fete Cake Bake’. Highly illustrated and colourful, this story is every bit as enjoyable as the first!

Watts and Pearl are very different personalities, but together, they make a great team, working together to solve this mystery. Pearl is impulsive and full of confidence whilst Watts is more cautious and methodical, but each contributes to solving the case and together, they expose the culprit. Having kept his detective activity secret from his parents, Watts - or rather Pearl!- shares this with them and is delighted by how supportive and encouraging they are.

The illustrations are an absolute joy, adding much to the appeal of the story and so much detail to linger over. They are completely integrated into the story, with speech bubbles being used. The teacher in me loves using stories like this to teach how to punctuate speech, using the illustrations to decide on what type of reporting clause to use to convey the action.

Watts’ notes at the end of each chapter help to summarise the action, allowing children to keep pace with the mystery and solve it alongside our two heroes. Let’s hope there are more adventures for Watts and Whiskerton to come soon!

Watts and Whiskerton: Sabotage at the Fete Cake Bake

Meg McLaren

Piccadilly Press ISBN: 978-1800786615

Published 24th April 2025

You can read my review of ‘Buried Bones and Troublesome Treasure’ here.