Em Hammond – illustratör

Riz Chester is an average 10-year-old girl. She can't do anything special and is average at school. But Riz is particularly picky, she notices when the teacher is 2 minutes late, or when the food brand used in the cheese sandwiches changes. She also notices when money doesn't feel quite right.Spotted by a police officer, Riz gets called in for questioning. She demonstrates she does notice the difference between the normal notes and the counterfeit ones, even though before her interaction with the officer she had never heard of counterfeiting. The officer explains that there is a ring of counterfeiting occurring locally but they haven't been able to pinpoint the criminal source. Mum cannot remember where the notes came from, but something sticks out to Riz when she thinks about it later. She recruits her friends to help her help investigate, carefully planning a course of action to track down the counterfeit notes. With the help of Riz and her friends, the police uncover the counterfeit operation.

After Riz and her friends successfully ledthe Counterfeit Bust, Riz has discovered her passion for forensic science. Oneday at school, she finds the perfect opportunity to break out her new forensicskit and solve a new mystery. On their way to class in the morning, Rizand her friends notice a commotion outside the music room and hear thatsomething has been stolen! They head off to class, but Riz’s observation skillsallow her to notice the principal, deputy, office staff, and their musicteacher speaking with removalists outside the classroom window. Riz tries tolipread their conversation and deciphers it at break with the help of herfriends and Peiter from Grade 6. Instruments have been stolen from the musicroom in the midst of its renovations!They start their investigation by sneakinginto the music room and finding some fingerprints. Riz and her friends collect thefingerprints of all their classmates and compare the patterns, promising theirteacher to give the class a presentation on their findings. They break off intoteams to collect even more fingerprints at break, from other Grades, and evenfrom their principal! They finally find their match, but before they can bringthe information to anyone else, the deputy principal pulls them in for a sternchat. Will they solve another mystery? Anotherforensic science inspired story for young readers.