The Quetlock Quavers have reached the pinnacle of their middle school careers: the statewide Music and Variety Talent Contest. They’ve drafted Bert Bishop, retired music teacher and bassist extraordinaire, for an important solo at the start of their opening piece. Rehearsals go off without a hitch, yet when the orchestra takes its place on Stage Two to begin its set, everyone is there except for Bert.

Was he ferried away aboard another orchestra’s bus? Maybe he was a casualty of an amateur magician’s trick. Did the dodgy tuna sandwich he ate finally do him in? Unless it was the performance hall’s resident ghost . . . He couldn’t have just vanished, could he?

Crack open a What Happened? book to investigate a preposterous mystery from four different perspectives. See what the witnesses get right . . . and what they get hilariously wrong. Bet you’ll never guess what really happened!