Thanks in advance for any guidance you can offer here. For years I have been trying to remember the name of the chapter books I borrowed from my local library in the mid to late 80’s. I remember loving them tremendously, but now only give you the vaguest details. Which are…
A boy who for some reason I want to call Harry or Peter or William and an older man who I want to call Professor go around solving haunted/spooky cases. My mind wants to call it Harry And the Haunted Knight, but no amount of googling brings that up. The main thing I remember, and I know this is reaching, is that they in every book there would be these glorious descriptions of the two of them slurping down these most delicious sounding gooey desserts. It was one of the authors main identifying characteristics, those wonderful descriptions of the two of them eating the most amazing desserts.
I realize that this is probably a long shot, but I did want to try you and see if it called anything to mind. I would love to read them to my boy when he’s old enough.
Your site is truly wonderful.
These would definitely be the wonderful books of John Bellairs, specifically the Johnny Dixon series. You can find a full list of the books on the author’s website: http://www.bellairsia.com/the_work/index.html as well as cover reproductions and book summaries. Johnny and his irritable friend Professor Childermass confront all kinds of creepy mysteries and often end up eating delicious cakes. Titles include: The Chessmen of Doom, The Curse of the Blue Figurine, The Revenge of the Wizard’s Ghost, and many others.
Sounds like one of John Bellairs’ series- probably the books with Johnny Dixon and Professor Childermass- the first of that series is called “The Curse of the Blue Figurine.” It could also be his Lewis Barnavelt series that begins with “The House with a Clock in its Walls.”
I thought this might be John Bellairs’ Lewis Barnavelt and Uncle Johnathan the Wizard books, but I added the poster’s word “gooey” to my search and came up with Bellairs’ “Spell of the Sorcerer’s Skull” featuring Johnny Dixon and Professor Childermass. It looks like there are 12 books in the series. Happy revisiting!