A star in danger. A play in peril. And a dagger with its own agenda. 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 fourth book of a 26-book story arc, The Three Investigators find themselves on a high-stakes case at the Rocky Beach Summer Theatre Festival. The young Indian-American film star Daman Duwalia, headlining a production of Romeo and Juliet, contacts the team after receiving a series of menacing letters. Madhuri Singh, the play's director, has also been bullied, and a string of accidents threatens to sabotage the production before it even opens. Jupiter quickly spots a clue in the letters: they were typed on a machine with a distinctive "signature." The team tracks the machine to the office of Sir Iain Anthony, the famed English actor now overseeing the festival. Could he be the one behind the threats or is there something more sinister at play? The plot thickens when a fire erupts in Sir Iain's office, Jupiter discovers that Duwalia's dressing room has been bugged, and the team uncovers a troubling detail about Madhuri's supposedly lucky dagger. When the dagger is mysteriously magnetized, it nearly strikes Madhuri during the final tech rehearsal when it falls from the shadows above. As the danger escalates, it seems possible that someone is willing to go to great lengths to stop the play—and may even be prepared to kill to see it canceled. Who is sabotaging the play—and why? What is the real connection between the dagger and the threats? What other secrets are hidden behind the scenes at the festival? Can their new acquaintance Mallory MacLeod prove her worth to Jupiter and the others on this seemingly baffling case? Will The Three Investigators unmask the villain before opening night, or will the curtain fall on a deadly conspiracy? Join Jupiter, Pete, Bob, and Mallory as they untangle a twisted plot, chase down a hidden villain, and race against the clock to save the show. With danger lurking backstage and the stakes sky-high, you'll be surprised by the outcome of the thrilling showdown. Elizabeth Arthur is the author of five literary novels (Beyond the Mountain, Bad Guys, Binding Spell, Antarctic Navigation, and Bring Deeps) and two memoirs (Island Sojourn and Looking for the Klondike Stone.) Her books have been published by Harper and Row, Doubleday, Knopf, and Bloomsbury U.K. She has received fellowships and grants from the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference, the Vermont Council on the Arts, the Ossabaw Island Project, and the Indiana Arts Commission. She twice received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and was the first novelist ever given an Antarctic Artists and Writers Operational Support Grant from the National Science Foundation. Her novel Antarctic Navigation was chosen by the New York Times as a Notable Book. Steven Bauer is the author of three books for young people, the young adult fantasy Satyrday, the middle grade novel A Cat of a Different Color, and The Strange and Wonderful Tale of Robert McDoodle, a picture book in verse. Bauer's writing has received fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He has also been given grants and awards from Prairie Schooner, the Ossabaw Island Project, the Massachusetts Arts Council, and the Indiana Arts Commission.