geri_chan | My Yuletide gift: The Three Investigators

I got an awesome gift in one of my favorite childhood book series, The Three Investigators:

The Mysteries of Paris (7371 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Three Investigators | Die drei ??? - Various Authors
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Jupiter Jones | Justus Jonas, Pete Crenshaw | Peter Shaw, Bob Andrews
Additional Tags: Post-Canon
Summary: Once upon a time there were three boy detectives - but as they grew up, they grew apart. Until one day they each received a ticket to Paris from a mysterious benefactor...

I absolutely loved this series when I was a kid! I even still have a few of the paperback books I bought through the Scholastic Book Club when I was in grade school. I used to imagine myself having adventures alongside Jupe, Pete, and Bob--little me was a budding Mary Sue and I didn't even know it!

I always wondered what happened to the guys when they grew up: did they continue to run a detective agency together, or did they go their own separate ways? This story answers that question perfectly! In the fic, the guys have drifted apart, until they each receive a plane ticket to Paris from an unknown sender. They slowly rekindle their friendship as they have a wonderful canon-style adventure, solving the riddles and tracking down the clues that their mysterious benefactor has laid out for them. Is this anonymous person a friend who wants to give the guys a fun adventure, or is it an enemy luring them into a trap? Well, you'll have to read the story to find out!

The story was wonderful, absolutely everything that I wanted for a Three Investigators fic! The guys felt so much in character, and I feel like I finally got the sequel that I always wanted. For an added bonus, the story is written from Bob's POV, and studious, bookish Bob was the Investigator that I identified with most as a kid. I didn't mention that in my letter, but that was a wonderful coincidence--or else my awesome author has mind-reading skills! Either way, it's a great story, and I highly recommend it. I love it so much, and I want to see it get the love that it deserves, so I hope that there are some more Three Investigators fans who will discover it!

Sadly, the books are mostly out of print now, although a few are available as kindle ebooks. The fic refers to a certain non-Investigator character from the books (I don't want to spoil the surprise), so I borrowed one of the books that character appears in from the library, and ordered a used copy of another from Amazon. I loved the fic so much that I want to do some re-reading to refresh my memory!