The Mystery of the Indefatigable Ink

What's erased isn't always gone-and ink never forgets.

Step into mysteries that demand courage, discernment, and the will to seek the truth. Conceived and co-written by the daughter of Robert Arthur - the creator of the Three Investigators universe - this restoration of the classic series takes its iconic characters into a new age, with gripping contemporary adventures for young readers who crave meaning, want to share in the growth of characters they admire, and seek a world they can return to again and again.

In the ninth book of a 26-book story arc, Jupiter's trip to the local hardware store seems like an ordinary errand - until a chance meeting with Mrs. Vasiliev, an elderly Russian woman who fled the Soviet Union in the 1980s, puts him on the track of a brand-new mystery. Mrs. Vasiliev asks Jupiter to help a young Russian-American songwriter named Ivan Fedorov, who's being threatened with a bogus plagiarism lawsuit.

At first, the case seems straightforward, but as The Three Investigators dig deeper, they uncover a complex and intriguing web of family history. Ivan's great-grandparents fled the Soviet Union during the Russian Revolution, and his great-grandfather, Fyodor, an Oscar-winning Hollywood actor. Fyodor's son, Vadim, was blacklisted in the 1950s during the Red Scare after being falsely accused of being a Soviet agent. But Vadim reinvented himself as the wildly successful mystery writer, Edison Ford, winning multiple Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America.

Vadim's final manuscript, however, is missing. He had completed it just before his death - a literary novel about his parents' escape from the Soviet regime - but despite years of searching, it's nowhere to be found. The investigation reveals that the manuscript may not be as lost as everyone thinks - but someone is determined to keep it hidden. An old-fashioned card catalogue has been rifled - though a 1930s movie, Dawn Over Petrograd, holds hidden clues.

In the end, the hunt for the missing manuscript leads The Three Investigators to the American Film History Library where they must race against time to recover it. But when the manuscript falls into the wrong hands, the team faces dangerous opposition. Who is behind the plot to keep it buried? To what lengths will they go to protect their secret? And can Jupiter, Pete, Bob, and Mallory uncover the truth before the manuscript is lost forever?

Join the team as they untangle a Gordian knot of deception, theft, and devious greed in this heart-pounding new chapter of The Three Investigators series.