The Candy Factory Mystery Read online

  “And I found you, Mrs. Winkles,” Tom said.

  “You mean Aunt Rose, don’t you?” Mrs. Winkles asked. “You’d better start calling me that if you want to work in the family business — maybe even open a Winkles Candy Factory branch in Lititz.”

  “Okay, Mrs. — I mean, Aunt Rose,” Tom said. “I know that with you, me, Meg, and the Aldens here, Mr. Boxer won’t have a chance with that school contract.”

  The Aldens laughed and clapped.

  Benny sniffed the sugary air. “Well, I’m glad that mystery is all figured out. I’m hungry.”

  Mrs. Winkles reached into her purse and pulled out a box of Winkles candy hearts. “Here, have some of these.”

  Benny flipped open the box top, took out a heart, and read what it said. Then he held up the candy box with one hand and made talking motions with his other hand.

  “Do you want us to guess the message on the candy heart?” Violet asked.

  Benny nodded.

  “Sugar,” Henry guessed.

  “Chatterbox,” Soo Lee said.

  “Talk to Me,” guessed Jessie.

  “I’ve got it!” Violet said. “Sweet Talk.”

  Benny grinned. “Violet guessed right. My candy heart says, Sweet Talk. Now that we solved our candy mysteries, that’s all we’ll hear at Winkles Candy Factory.”

  GERTRUDE CHANDLER WARNER discovered when she was teaching that many readers who like an exciting story could find no books that were both easy and fun to read. She decided to try to meet this need, and her first book, The Boxcar Children, quickly proved she had succeeded.

  Miss Warner drew on her own experiences to write the mystery. As a child she spent hours watching trains go by on the tracks opposite her family home. She often dreamed about what it would be like to set up housekeeping in a caboose or freight car — the situation the Alden children find themselves in.

  When Miss Warner received requests for more adventures involving Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden, she began additional stories. In each, she chose a special setting and introduced unusual or eccentric characters who liked the unpredictable.

  While the mystery element is central to each of Miss Warner’s books, she never thought of them as strictly juvenile mysteries. She liked to stress the Aldens’ independence and resourcefulness and their solid New England devotion to using up and making do. The Aldens go about most of their adventures with as little adult supervision as possible — something else that delights young readers.

  Miss Warner lived in Putnam, Connecticut, until her death in 1979. During her lifetime, she received hundreds of letters from girls and boys telling her how much they liked her books.

  All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2002 by Albert Whitman & Company

  Albert Whitman & Company

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  THE BOXCAR CHILDREN SPECIALS

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