DETECTIVE MOLE

Complete with magnifying glass, plaid deer stalker and a menagerie of soft-headed clients, a nearsighted Detective Mole blinks his way through a quintet of cases that make Nate the Great look like Sam Spade. All the mysteries evaporate upon inspection: Mr. Rooster's and Mrs. Hen's ""ghost"" turns out to be their chicks, speaking through a broken rainpipe; teething bunnies are the ""thieves"" of their baby sitter Miss Field Mouse's toe shoes; etc. Even Mr. Pack Rat, who is caught red-handed with the shiny objects everyone has been missing throughout, is ""very sorry he had borrowed things without asking."" In fact the closest thing to a villain is the sleuth himself, who ends up serving all assembled with bills for his services on the grounds that ""one good turn deserves another."" Better yet, a penny saved. . . .