The Lost Treasure: A Bobby Holmes Mystery - Softcover

About the Author Jim Kelly has been a middle school teacher, a vice-principal, a principal, a Co-Director of the New Jersey State History Fair, a consultant for the New Jersey Foundation for Educational Administration, a current Board member of the Global Learning Project, a non-profit, and Past-President of the Morris County Association of Elementary and Middle School Administrators. He has been the recipient of numerous education awards such as the New Jersey Governor’s Teacher Award, two Geraldine Dodge Foundation Grants, and by acclamation of his school staff, received the New Jersey Principal’s and Supervisor’s Association Principal of the Year Award for Visionary Leadership in 2007. Jim also authored two professional books: Student–Centered Teaching for Increased Participation and In Search of Leadership. The Lost Treasure is Jim’s first novel. His love of mysteries, adventures, and everything about Sherlock Holmes, helped in the creation of eleven-year-old Bobby Holmes and his cousin Brenda Watson. Jim is currently at work on a dark comedy for adults entitled Tommy Ails: Good For What Ails You. Jim was born in New Jersey, the second oldest in a family of ten, and except for brief stints in Pennsylvania and Hawaii, he lived there most of his life. Jim lives in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey and Sarasota, Florida, with his wife Bronwen. They have three children, Peter, Alex, and Brianna.

Debut author Kelly displays a keen, nostalgic eye for childhoods well spent adventuring. His prose is lush with whimsy—“Their mouths began to water like broken faucets”—though he captures natural beauty just as well: “Sunlight streaked through the entangled branches, painting splotches of bright light on the moss covered canvas below.” Amid the genre trappings, there are also excellent messages for younger audiences. An irresistibly bright world, packed with winning characters and real danger.