A detective story for kids where the detective is your child.
An illustrated mystery with your child's name and face: they run the Mystery Bureau up the Chestnut Tree, follow the clues and close the case. Put it on the TV or a projector and solve it together, with a narrator or you reading it aloud.
A detective story with your child as the hero — what you get
What the story is, how a case works and how to enjoy it together.
What you get
- An illustrated detective story in which your child is the detective: their name, their look, their case. You create the hero once, and the same hero returns in every case.
- A series, not a one-off: the Mystery Bureau up the Chestnut Tree has four cases in English, each with clues to follow, a secret password at the door and a case closed on the last page.
- Story time on the big screen: cast the story to your TV or a projector, so the pictures and the text fill the room and everyone can guess who did it before the end.
- A detective birthday party in one evening: the birthday child leads the investigation on the big screen while the guests guess along. No kit and no props needed.
- Narration: a narrator reads the case aloud, or you do — in your own voice, recreated by a digital voice model. The text on screen follows the reading.
How a detective story with your child is made
Add your child.
Type their name and create a hero who looks like them — from a few chosen features or from a photo. The same hero returns in every case.
Open the first case.
Start from this page and Case 1 of the Mystery Bureau opens straight away: a runaway pet has to be found before dark. The story is written and illustrated in a few minutes.
Solve it together.
Read it on a phone, or cast it to the TV or a projector and follow the clues as a family. A narrator or your own voice can read it aloud.
The case stays in your library — come back to it at bedtime, or put it on the TV when friends come round.
Planning a detective party?
Ideas for clues, tasks and a finale in which the birthday child is the hero.
Guide for parents
Questions about detective stories with your child
Yes. Start from this page and the series opens in English, with British spelling and settings — conkers, wellies and a treehouse in an old chestnut tree.
Yes. The reader works in any browser, and you can cast it to a TV or a projector (the reader supports Chromecast). The illustrations and text fill the screen, so everyone on the sofa can look for clues.
Yes. Create a case with the birthday child as the detective and put it on the big screen. The birthday child leads the investigation and the guests guess along before the last page.
A narrator, if you switch narration on, or you, in your own voice. To use your voice, record two short samples in the app; a digital voice model then reads the story and the text on screen follows along. Every narration is labelled as synthetic speech.
The first case is waiting
Start with a hero who has your child's name. Case 1 of the Mystery Bureau opens next, and the story stays in your library.