From School Library Journal
Grade 4-8-Glib Duncan Culpepper and accident-prone Amos Binder, who is infatuated with the indifferent Melissa Hansen, continue their bumbling amateur sleuthing in these two additions to the series. In Red Tattoos, the boys are at Camp Gitchie Goomie where they overhear a plot to get rid of the camp director. After a series of mishaps, they lead the police to a band of black marketeers. The funnier and more plausible of the two stories is Scam Artists. Dunc and Amos befriend a woman who they fear will be the next victim of a scam artist who has been bilking elderly citizens out of their life savings by pretending to be a long-lost relative. In a plot twist, the nice old lady turns out to be an accomplice to the crook. Both stories follow the series pattern: Amos ends up battered and bruised, a victim of his own clumsiness, and Dunc is always able to talk his friend into trying his schemes by mentioning the possibility of impressing the beloved Melissa. Paulsen moves the action along by presenting some scenes in after-the-fact dialogue. These fast-paced, humorous stories with snappy dialogue and likable characters will appeal to reluctant middle-school readers.
Eunice Weech, M.L. King Elementary School, Urbana, ILCopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From the Publisher
Best friends for life Dunc Culpepper and Amos Binder are at it again. Some older residents of their town have been bilked by con artists, and the two boys want to look into these crimes. They meet elderly Betsy Dell, whose nasty nephew Frank gives the boys the creeps. Then they notice some soft dirt in Ms. Dell's shed, and a shovel. Does Frank have something horrible in store for Dunc and Amos?
