The Case of the Stolen Scarab

Overview

The Case of the Stolen Scarab is a Candlestone Inn mystery by Nancy Garden, published by Two Lives Publishing as part of a two-book middle-grade series about Nikki and Travis Taylor-Michaelson and their two mothers. The collection value lies in genre normalization. These books are not primarily arguments about whether a lesbian-parent family is acceptable; the two-mother household is the ordinary setting for thefts, guests, amnesia, missing objects, and innkeeping. That makes the item a later counterpart to picture-book family-recognition titles. Garden, already a major figure in LGBTQ young adult literature, applies familiar mystery conventions to a family structure that earlier books had often needed to explain directly.^[2][3][9][8]

Mystery Genre

The book’s plot belongs to middle-grade mystery rather than family-problem fiction. The Taylor-Michaelson family buys and runs an inn, encounters suspicious events, and gives Nikki and Travis room to investigate. That generic frame matters. A family with two mothers is not treated as the puzzle; it is the ordinary household from which children enter the mystery. For the collection, that shift shows representation moving into genre fiction, where LGBTQ-family context can be present without carrying the full burden of explanation.^[2][1][7]

Two-Mother Setting

Two Lives identifies its publishing mission as creating books for children with LGBTQ parents, and the local catalog records the Taylor-Michaelson family as Nikki, Travis, and their two mothers. The family structure is therefore not accidental, but the story does not reduce the characters to that feature. The inn, guests, objects, and clues give the children a fictional world beyond family description. That makes the item useful beside earlier titles that must first establish that a same-sex-parent family exists.^[3][1][2]

Nancy Garden Context

Nancy Garden’s presence changes the object. ALA’s Edwards Award materials and later memorial writing identify her as a major LGBTQ young adult writer, especially through Annie on My Mind. Contemporary Authors also places her within children’s and series fiction. The Candlestone Inn books draw on that broader career: Garden knew both the stakes of LGBTQ representation and the mechanics of suspense writing for young readers. This title is therefore a genre experiment by an already significant writer.^[9][10][11]

Two Lives Market

Publishers Weekly’s 2005 discussion of LGBTQ-family children’s books quotes Two Lives publisher Bobbie Combs and Nancy Garden in a market where demand existed but distribution and controversy still shaped access. That context explains why a mystery series from a small press matters. The book is not only a story; it is part of a publishing effort to make books available in which same-sex-parent families appear across ordinary genres and age ranges.^[8][3][2]

Timeline

1. 1982Annie on My MindGarden publishes the YA novel that anchors much of her later reputation.^[9]
2. 1999Two Lives beginsTwo Lives describes its publishing mission around children with LGBTQ parents.^[3]
3. 2003Edwards AwardGarden receives ALA’s Margaret A. Edwards Award.^[9]
4. 2004First Candlestone bookThe Case of the Stolen Scarab appears in publisher and library records.^[4][2]
5. 2005Market discussionPublishers Weekly discusses Two Lives, Garden, and demand for these books.^[8]
6. 2010 / 2012Second Candlestone bookRecords for The Case of the Vanishing Valuables show first-edition and later retail dates.^[5]
7. 2014Garden’s deathSLJ reports Garden’s death and summarizes her LGBTQ literature legacy.^[10]

Candlestone Inn Series

The two-book series places a two-mother family inside middle-grade mystery conventions.

Citation

The Case of the Stolen Scarab. Nancy Garden. Two Lives Publishing, 2004. Tarpey-Schwed LGBT Families Children's Book Special Collection, Mechanics' Institute. Collection ID: KB-161.

Sources

Cover image from Two Lives Publishing.

1. Local collection catalog record for The Case of the Stolen Scarab (Candlestone Inn Mystery #1) (Candlestone Inn Mysteries) · catalog
2. Two Lives Candlestone page · publisher
3. Two Lives publisher context · publisher
4. Open Library ISBN API for The Case of the Stolen Scarab · library
5. Open Library record for The Case of the Vanishing Valuables · library
6. Barnes & Noble record for The Case of the Stolen Scarab · bookseller
7. ALA Rainbow Round Table children’s bibliography · ala
8. Publishers Weekly, Diversity Breeds Controversy · trade
9. ALA Edwards Award release for Nancy Garden · award
10. School Library Journal obituary for Nancy Garden · trade
11. Contemporary Authors entry for Nancy Garden · reference
12. Nancy Garden, ALAN Review article · scholarship
13. Queerspawn Resource Project youth books list · bibliography