Do we all know the difference between sea turtles and fresh-water turtles? But it is this difference which shows up young Shimplya’s fisherman father being framed for poaching. Most of us live in urban and semi-urban settings, unaware if not unconcerned of details crucial to rural and coastal life in India. As Shimplya takes his problem to the M4, ‘the happening team of young detectives in the unhappening town of Maulsari’ (p. 2), readers learn about them and get involved in the surrounding mystery.
The ‘End Note’ which is quite informative for children as to the legal aspects of wildlife poaching, points out shocking cruelties like poachers passing off spotted owlets as horned owls by inserting red colour into their eyes and pasting their feathers with latex (pp. 228-29).