‘Those sandals are a scandal, sir’, said Pearly to the busker. ‘And there is no call for a live performance this early in the morning without the proper permits and permissions.’
The adventures of a supercilious six-year old child detective who solves crimes with the help of the three Gordy boys, Wanderley, Windy and Wes, (who call themselves the Interesting Twins) first came to my attention via the Pearly Stockwell and the Interesting Twins Wonder Detective Comic Book Super Series, a reasonably unsuccessful series of black and white comics published by the extremely obscure IT Publishing.
As you will know if you have read the series, Pearly moves to Fallstown following a commuter train tragedy that killed her parents. Fallstown is a small place in the middle of nowhere that is somehow a perpetual magnet for all minds and matters criminally oriented. Pearly doesn’t have much to bring to her new home apart from the fortune she inherited from her parents and her big city ways.
Appalled by an unfortunate incident which resulted in her suitcase being mistakenly switched, Pearly takes it upon herself to establish a detective agency by placing an advertisement in the Fallstown Provider looking for like-minded individuals.
‘Experience not essential but you must have a belief in truth, justice and an aching desire to find out things’
Her advertisement is answered by the Interesting Twins and the rest is history.
The comics only ran for a single series before the paying public decided that Pearly’s big city ways were just too much for them. For completists everywhere here is the full list of published titles:
1. Pearly Stockwell and the Letter from the Past
2. The Octopus and His Evil Plans for Pearly Stockwell
3. The Lost Treasure of Fallstown
4. Pearly Saves the Seaside
5. Windy Wins the Deadliest Race of his Little Life
6. Pearly and the Merchant Bankers
7. Pearly and the Missing Magic Ring
8. Here Comes the Interesting Twins to Save the Day
9. Pearly Meets the Ghostly Angler
10. We Really Hope You Can, Pearly Stockwell!
11. Pearly Stockwell and the Letter that Was Hidden But Everyone Could Really See
12. When Toyshops Attack
13. Pearly and the Harvest Moon
14. Pearly Stockwell and the Fate of the Fête
15. Pearly Breaks a Leg
16. The Circus has Lost a Clown
17. Pearly Lose the Plot, Or Does She?
18. Pearly Squares the Magic Circle
The comic book series was turned into an audio book series and if you scour the thrift shops or look online you might still be able to find the recordings somewhere.
There has been a very recent upsurge in interest in Pearly Stockwell and her adventures and I even read a rumour somewhere that there might be plans for reviving the series. There does also seem to be some very recent online activity.
Currently these are only rumours but they do also extend as far as tentative suggestions about a screenplay also being produced. I will look into this and if I hear any more on this topic I will let you know.
Until then, beware The Octopus and his ‘his eight mean legs of greed, theft, evil, selfishness, anger, violence, meanness and insanity’.
BARNABY TAYLOR: Curiosity is Currency 