Pinky Bloom and the Case of the Magical Menorah by Judy Press

Author:Judy Press [Press, Judy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Celebrate, Chanukah, Chanukkah, Custom, Hannukah, Hanukah, Hanukkah, Holiday, Holidays and Festivals, Holidays, Jewish Holiday, Jewish Holidays, Jewish, Judaism, Kar-Ben Publishing, Kar-Ben, Maccabee, Traditions and Customs, Winter Holidays, mystery, detective, New York City, chapter book, humor, contemporary fiction
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Published: 2021-08-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

The costume store was sandwiched between a bank and a bakery on a busy street in Borough Park.

“I’m hungry,” Avi said. “Can I have a donut?”

“We’ll get donuts later,” Madame Olga assured him. “Come look at the costumes.”

Mannequins in the storefront window were dressed in pirate, superhero, and clown costumes. There was even a costume for a dog!

We walked into the store, and a clerk hurried over to us. “We’re having a sale on Halloween costumes,” she said. “Fifty percent off.”

“Do you sell Hanukkah costumes?” I asked.

She thought for a minute. “We have a dreidel costume and a hat that’s shaped like a menorah. And we had at least one Judah Maccabee. We sold one of those the other day, but I’ll check in the back to see if there are more.”

While we waited for her to come back, I tried on the menorah hat. “How do I look?” I asked Shira.

“Very stylish,” she said, smiling. “You should wear that to services on Shabbat.”

“They have a magician’s cape and top hat!” Max exclaimed. “That’s what I’m buying with my Hanukkah money.”

Avi found a fake mustache. He held it under his nose. “This tickles,” he said, laughing.

The clerk came out from the back of the store. “Sorry. I couldn’t find any other Judah Maccabee costumes. I guess the one we sold the other day was our last one.”

“Do you know who bought it?” Shira asked eagerly.

“We have so many customers—I can’t remember them all. But I remember that he said he was buying it for a friend. Oh, and he left something behind. I didn’t notice it until after he left the store.”

This could be my lucky day! I held my breath as the clerk reached behind the counter and handed me a small, white paper bag. “Here it is,” she said.

I reached into the bag and pulled out a gross jelly donut with teeth marks where someone had taken a bite! I was about to dump the bag in the trash when Avi yelled, “Stop, Pinky! Don’t do it!”

“I wasn’t going to eat it! I don’t even like jelly donuts.”

Then Avi said something that made perfect sense—which honestly doesn’t happen too often.

“Pinky, maybe Judah Maccabee left his fingerprints on the bag.”

Why hadn’t I thought of that? I looked closely at the bag and spotted a single, greasy fingerprint.

“Bingo!” I exclaimed. This was a good, solid clue. “Now I just have to find out whose fingerprint this is.”

“Pinky, what if it just belongs to someone in the bakery?” Shira asked.

“I can answer that,” Madame Olga said. “People who make and serve ready-to-eat food have to wear throwaway gloves, so that fingerprint doesn’t belong to them.”

I took out my pencil and my detective notebook. Under SUSPECTS, I wrote, Likes jelly donuts.

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