Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose are having an excellent time at the Penelope Gwinn concert. But during intermission, Dink injures his arm! At the same time, the singer's diamond necklace is stolen. Could the two mishaps somehow be connected? And could Dink's X-ray be a clue? It's up to the kids to examine the evidence and find out.
In The X'ed-Out Ex-Ray, Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose are off to see Penelope Gwinn in concert; she's a rock musician with a--brace yourself--penguin theme. But during intermission, Gwinn's diamond penguin necklace is stolen by a autograph seeker... and for once, the kids aren't ready to jump on the mystery, as Dink happened to break his arm right around the time of the theft. Of course, you can't have an A to Z Mysteries book without Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose solving a crime, so the kids get wrapped up in the shenanigans before long.
There are a couple of solid suspects in this one, but it's fairly obvious who the thief is, as Roy opts to follow the "it's actually whoever they don't suspect" trope. For the target audience, though, it's a fairly clever mystery, if not exactly a riveting tale for any adults reading along.
We're closing in on the end of the series now and well entrenched in the books I never had a chance to read as a child. Unlike the first installments of the series, I don't have these committed to memory; but they're fun nonetheless, and I highly recommend them to children in the chapter book phase.
