Dear Readers,
The Mystery of the Nebulous Nemesis begins with a request from Pete’s mother: could the team look into some strange goings-on at her sister and brother-in-law’s orange grove outside Bakersfield? Pete isn’t sure it counts as a real mystery. But he wants to help his aunt, uncle, and cousins, and the deeper The Three Investigators dig, the more urgent — and unsettling — the case becomes. Twelve orange trees poisoned. A citrus stand shut down. A line of organic products targeted. And a mysterious roller coaster called The Nemesis that rises up in a rival grove just down the road.
This case takes the Three Investigators and their Special Consultant across the Tehachapi Mountains and into California’s Central Valley - a working class world away from the coast. Here are the endless fields of lettuce, the almond and citrus groves, and the people who work in them.
As things move forward and questions are answered, it seems that the story really begins in a long-ago backstory – at the time when Pete’s aunt’s father-in-law, Charlie Robertson, bought the orange grove, not long after he returned from fighting in the Second World War. He bought it from the widow of a man who – well, that would be telling.
To The Three Investigators’ delight, they discover that their friend Wally Tate - last seen in The Mystery of the Hellenistic Hoard, but first seen in The Mystery of the Existential Envoy – was a close friend of Charlie Robertson from the time they were boys. Both were originally from Oklahoma, both were called “Okies” when they arrived in the Central Valley, both fought in the Second World War and came home safe, and both appeared as extras in a movie filmed near their home town of Lindsay - the movie The Grapes of Wrath.
Nowadays, the Three Investigators’ friend, the film star Daman Duwalia, loves the Robertsons’ oranges so much, he’s a regular mail-order customer.
Although this book is a little different from any of the others, it’s true to one of the wonders of my father’s original conception – the way he understood that part of what has always made America great is not only its hard-working working class, but the way in which the various classes and sub-cultures traditionally respected one another, and mixed and mingled easily.
This is a mystery that stumps the Three Investigators for the longest time, and threatens to be the first one they’re unable to solve. But four bikers they meet at their motel in Bakersfield provide a vital clue. Soon after, Cueball, Rooster, Knuckles, and Buzz become the book’s unexpected heroes – and the cultures of opportunism, careerism, bureaucracy, and safetyism its truly vile villains.
Warmly,
Elizabeth Arthur
The Mystery of the Nebulous Nemesis
Cover Art By Pashur House
Book Description For The Mystery of the Nebulous Nemesis:
In the fourteenth book of a 26-book story arc, the trouble is personal. When Pete's mother asks The Three Investigators to look into a disturbing situation at her sister and brother-in-law's orange grove near Bakersfield, Pete is initially reluctant. He can't sense a real mystery, and he worries his friends won't be interested. But when they discover that Wally Tate was once close to Pete's uncle's father, the team heads to the Golden Globe Citrus Grove.
Their investigation takes a serious turn when a man from the California Health and Safety Commission shows up with a "CLOSED BY ORDER OF" notice, shutting down the Robertsons' citrus stand and, more crucially, their line of soaps, lotions, and supplements. Worse, twelve orange trees have been poisoned. Someone wants to destroy the Robertsons' livelihood. But who?
The more The Three Investigators dig, the more questions arise. Could the Fresno fulfillment center be tampering with the products? Is a high-tech startup, Tehachapi Biogen, trying to put the Robertsons out of business? Why would their wealthy neighbor want to buy their property - and why open an amusement park in his own grove, with a roller coaster named The Nemesis?
As the case deepens, The Three Investigators begin to doubt their decision to take it on. But when they meet a group of friendly bikers staying at their motel, a new lead emerges. A stroke of luck helps them arrive at a crucial insight, and they race to the amusement park to try to prevent disaster.
What's behind the sabotage at the grove? Who stands to gain from ruining the Robertsons' business? What's the real connection between the poisoned trees and the mysterious roller coaster? Can the Three Investigators put it all together before it's too late?
Join Jupiter, Pete, Bob, and Mallory as they thread their way through a hidden underworld of secrets, power plays, and subtle manipulation. When the stakes are hidden behind supposed “safetyism”, it's up to the team to uncover the truth before it's buried for good.
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