I read it in the 1970s, probably published then or perhaps in the late '60s. A young boy (maybe 10 or 11) and his older sister (young teenager?) from a noble family become embroiled in a mystery and they run around town (possibly Athens, but I think it was ancient Rome) hunting for clues. They wear togas. 🙂
Stump the Bookseller
New format, same book stumper solving.
Definitely intended for an older audience than grades 2 – 6. I would say it was at a middle-school or even YA level.
This sounds as if it might be any of several Geoffrey Trease young adult historicals, all of which involved a couple of young teens solving a mystery.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Trease
I don’t know the book, but if it is indeed a mystery set in ancient Rome (rathern than acient Greece), it’s almost certainly listed and annotated somewhere on this site (“The Detective and the Toga”):
https://histmyst.org/english.html
or as a juvenile most likely more specifically at this sublist:
https://histmyst.org/younger.html
I don’t know the book, but if it is indeed a mystery set in ancient Rome, it’s almost certainly listed and annotated somewhere on the “Detective and the Toga” site:
https://histmyst.org/english.html
I think this is the series by Caroline Lawrence called Roman Mysteries, YA
I think this is a YA series by Caroline Lawrence called Roman Mysteries.
Thanks for the suggestion, but this was a book from the 1970s, and Roman Mysteries are a more recent series.
Could it pre-date the 60s/70s? There’s The Gift of the Golden Cup (1946) and The The Theft of the Golden Ring (1948) by Isabelle Lawrence.
Yes, the Gift of the Golden Cup might very well be it! I can’t be sure since it seems to be out of print, but this is a very promising lead. Thank you very much!
Detectives in Togas and/or The Mystery of the Roman Ransom, both by Henry Winterfeld.
Either Detectives in Togas or The Mystery of the Roman Ransom, both by Henry Winterfeld. (Or maybe Winterfield?)