The Pet Detective has his work cut out when his favourite football goes missing. With his dog, Rooney, he sets out to follow the clues; an open window; a missing football; a dirty big footprint; a bubblegum wrapper and a rustle in the bushes. It isn't long before the Pet Detective has located the culprit.

Gold/Band 9 fiction books offer developing readers literary language and stories with distinctive characters. Text type - A story by the same author. A storyboard on pages 22 and 23 provides an opportunity for children to retell the story in their own words.

Curriculum links - Citizenship: Animals and us. Tortoise Trouble is another Pet Detective story by Jana Hunter in the Collins Big Cat series. This book has been levelled for Reading Recovery.

This book has been quizzed for Accelerated Reader.