— Brains Benton Illustrated

New Edition

An updated celebration of Shannon Sternweis' Brains Benton artwork from 1969 — 2018. This new edition is published in a larger format. (8.5" x 11") Rough draft illustrations are included in this quality publication. White interior paper (80# weight), full-color interior ink.

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1. The Case of the Missing Message − Classical Junior Novel (188 pages)

Year: 1959 / Author: Charles Spain Verral / Internal Artist: Hamilton Greene /
Cover Artist: Paul Nonnast

The Kangeroos have escaped! This secret code message spells trouble for Brains Benton and Jimmy Carson and leads them down a trail that involves a circus clown, a real live performing elephant, a fortune-teller, a tight-rope walker, and a very pesky parrot. All clues seem to point toward a secret message which could bring the boys' new friend Skeets Fenton into his proper inheritance, and unmask the villains as well!

Editions: Golden Press (w/DJ) / Golden Press (Picture cover) / Whitman (Wide) / Whitman (Narrow) / Goldencraft Library Binding * / Golden Griffon Paperback / British / French / German / German (Frank Milford) / Italian / Swedish / Finnish / Norwegian & Danish

* − Cover scan appears by courtesy of Seth T. Smolinske.

Internal Artwork Galleries: Hamilton Greene / Jacques Pecnard

Note: This story originally had a working title of The Case of the Twisted Ear....

2. The Case of the Counterfeit Coin − Classical Junior Novel (188 pages)

Year: 1960 / Author: George Wyatt / Internal Artist: Hamilton Greene

The ingenious teenage sleuths, Barclay "Brains" Benton and Jimmy "Operative Three" Carson match wits with a ring of rare-coin counterfeiters and track them to their secret hideout in the woods. The result: a swiftly-paced tale, packed with chills, chuckles, and suspense.

Internal Artwork Galleries: Hamilton Greene / Jacques Pecnard

Editions: Golden Press (Picture cover) / Whitman (Wide) / Whitman (Narrow) / Golden Griffon Paperback / French / German / German (Frank Milford) / Italian / Swedish / Finnish / Norwegian / Danish

3. The Case of the Stolen Dummy − Classical Junior Novel (186 pages)

Year: 1961 / Author: George Wyatt / Internal Artist: Walter Dey

Young Brains Benton and his pal Jimmy Carson take on a case that has baffled the police. Five thousand dollars, collected in the community to build a summer camp for youngsters, have disappeared without a trace. Before Brains and Jimmy solve the crime, they are plunged into a whirlwind of excitement and suspense, climaxed by a wild chase in a racing car.

Internal Artwork Galleries: Walter Dey / Jacques Pecnard

Editions: Golden Press (Picture cover) / Whitman (Wide) / Whitman (Narrow) / French / Italian / Swedish / Norwegian & Danish

4. The Case of the Roving Rolls − Classical Junior Novel (186 pages)

Year: 1961 / Author: George Wyatt / Internal Artist: Al Schmidt

When a snow-white vintage Rolls-Royce chases Jimmy Carson down the driveway of the Willoughby estate all by itself - well, as Jimmy would say, "Creeps!" But that's only the beginning: a strange hit-and-run accident, two quarts of sour cream and a missing moustache start the incomparable Brains and his partner Jimmy off on a truly international mystery as a kingdom hangs in the balance.

Internal Artwork Galleries: Al Schmidt / Jacques Pecnard

Editions: Golden Press (Picture cover) / Whitman (Narrow) / French / German / Italian / Swedish / Finnish / Norwegian & Danish

5. The Case of the Waltzing Mouse − Classical Junior Novel (187 pages)

Year: 1961 / Author: George Wyatt / Internal Artist: Al Schmidt

Gustave von Maltzbenden's pet mouse Xenophon can waltz. This is not strange because Gustave is an animal trainer. What does seem strange to Brains Benton and Jimmy Carson is that Gustave and Xenophon have disappeared, leaving behind a trailerful of hungry animals, a fortune in bills where only a skindiver could find it, and enough clues to send the members of Benton and Carson International Detective Agency on the wildest boat ride of their young lives.

Internal Artwork Galleries: Al Schmidt / Beniamino Bodini

Editions: Golden Press (Picture cover) / Whitman (Narrow) / French / German / Italian / Swedish / Finnish / Norwegian & Danish

6. The Case of the Painted Dragon − Classical Junior Novel (185 pages)

Year: 1961 / Author: George Wyatt / Internal Artist: Hamilton Greene

A moving statue, a suddenly empty swimming pool, a terrifying painted dragon - all clues proclaim this the most difficult and dangerous case Barclay ("Brains") Benton and Jimmy ("Operative Three") Carson have ever handled. The young detectives and their friend Mikko soon discover that the villains are the deadly variety, who will stop at nothing to get what they want.

Internal Artwork Galleries: Hamilton Greene / Beniamino Bodini

Editions: Golden Press (Picture cover) / Whitman (Narrow) / French / German / Italian / Swedish / Norwegian & Danish

1. The Case of the Carrier Pigeon − Junior Novel (207 pages)

Year: 2008 / Author: Charles E. Morgan, III / Artist: Shannon Stirnweis

While on a bicycle ride, Brains Benton (X), and his partner Jimmy Carson (Operative Three), find a wounded homing pigeon. The message that the bird was carrying is missing! The Benton and Carson International Detective Agency fly into action, and find themselves up to their eyeballs in trouble!

Internal Artwork Gallery: Shannon Stirnweis

Buy! Hardbound with DJ / Paperback / Deluxe Picture Cover / Deluxe Paperback / eBook

Note: This story is a sequel to Painted Dragon, and is based upon the discovery of a wounded pigeon by Brains and Jimmy at the very end of that novel.

2. The Case of the Lost Loot − Junior Novel (213 pages)

Year: 2008 / Author: Charles E. Morgan, III / Artist: Shannon Stirnweis

A millionaire's mansion was burglarized decades ago and the loot never recovered. An old deed may hold the clue to where the over quarter of a million dollars is hidden. Brains Benton (X), and his partner Jimmy Carson (Operative Three), get involved in the case, and they soon find themselves up to their necks in danger and intrigue.

Internal Artwork Gallery: Shannon Stirnweis

Buy! Hardbound with DJ / Paperback / Deluxe Picture Cover / Deluxe Paperback / eBook

3. The Case of the Stolen Jewelry − Junior Novel (189 pages)

Year: 2009 / Author: Charles E. Morgan, III / Artist: Shannon Stirnweis

While collecting soda pop bottles, Jimmy Carson (Operative Three) makes a startling discovery. There are stolen diamonds hidden inside a bottle! When he reports his find to Brains (X), the Benton and Carson International Detective Agency swings into high gear. Trying to find the jewel thieves leads them on a journey fraught with mystery and danger. Run-ins with a gang of juvenile delinquents lead to some hair-raising trouble!

Internal Artwork Gallery: Shannon Stirnweis

Buy! Hardbound with DJ / Paperback / Deluxe Picture Cover / Deluxe Paperback / eBook

4. The Case of the Final Message − Junior Novel (185 pages)

Year: 2011 / Author: Charles E. Morgan, III / Artist: Shannon Stirnweis

It's the beginning of a new year and Brains Benton (X) and Jimmy Carson (Operative Three) are just trying to enjoy a quiet break from school. But on the way home from sledding, they notice a police car at a classmate's house. The simple case of breaking and entering turns into a baffling puzzle with hidden clues. The case takes the two operatives of the Benton and Carson International Detective Agency on an adventure that takes them to Washington D.C. and back. There is danger up to the eyeballs as Brains and Jimmy get into even more of a mystery than they can even dream of. Enjoy the ride as Benton and Carson solve the case as only they can!

Internal Artwork Gallery: Shannon Stirnweis

Buy! Hardbound with DJ / Paperback / Deluxe Picture Cover / Deluxe Paperback

5. The Case of the Disappearing Magician − Junior Novel

Year: 2014 / Author: Charles E. Morgan, III / Artist: Shannon Stirnweis

Mysterious explosions in the night get the Benton and Carson International Detective Agency on the job to investigate. The case leads Brains and Jimmy to the Crestwood Fair where they uncover a devious plot to get away with robbing the First National Bank.

Join Operative Three and Operative X on this thrilling ride as they match wits with a conniving magician!

Buy! Hardbound with DJ / Paperback / Deluxe Picture Cover / Deluxe Paperback

6. The Case of the Crossed Wire − Junior Novel

Year: 2016 / Author: Charles E. Morgan, III / Artist: Shannon Stirnweis

In this latest Brains Benton mystery, Jimmy Carson accidently overhears two men discussing a diabolical plot over the telephone. Although he doesn't know exactly what's going on, he knows that it's bad news! He tells Brains and in no time the Benton and Carson International Detective Agency is operating in high gear!

Join Operative Three and X in this exciting adventure-mystery as they match wits with a criminal element that has big plans for the upcoming election!

Buy! Hardbound with DJ / Paperback / Deluxe Picture Cover / Deluxe Paperback

7. The Case of the Aviator's Plans − Junior Novel

Year: 2017 / Author: Charles E. Morgan, III / Artist: Shannon Stirnweis

It's been raining cats and dogs for days. When the rain finally subsides, Jimmy Carson (Operative Three) and Brains Benton (X) muster all of their courage to rescue a woman who is trapped in a raging flood! This leads the firm of the Benton and Carson International Detective Agency into one of their most dangerous cases ever!

Buckle in for some high flying adventure and intrigue!

Buy! Hardbound with DJ / Paperback / Deluxe Picture Cover / Deluxe Paperback

8. The Case of the Crooked Deal − Junior Novel

Year: 2018 / Author: Charles E. Morgan, III / Artist: Shannon Stirnweis

Crestwood Junior-Senior High School is broken into and money is stolen from the French Club!

Brains Benton (X) and Jimmy Carson (Operative Three) are called in on the case. They soon find themselves up to their eyeballs in trouble.

Join our two private detectives in their latest mystery!

Buy! Hardbound with DJ / Paperback / Deluxe Picture Cover / Deluxe Paperback

9. The Case of the Spy's Revenge − Junior Novel

Year: 2018 / Author: Charles E. Morgan, III / Artist: Shannon Stirnweis

Things seem to be going well for Brains Benton and Jimmy Carson of the Benton and Carson International Detective Agency, when suddenly some strange things start to happen. Things go from bad to worse when they wind up being framed for arson! Join Operative Three and X as they try to capture one of the most dangerous criminals they've ever encountered!

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--. The Adventures of Benton & Carson − Junior Anthology

Year: 2016 / Author: Charles E. Morgan, III / Artist: Shannon Stirnweis

For the first time in hardback, enjoy this collection of six action-packed short stories featuring Jimmy Carson (Operative Three) and Brains Benton (Operative X).

This edition includes three previously unpublished tales. It also includes the story of how Brains and Jimmy met, and the holiday favorite, "Christmas Eve in Crestwood."

• Shattered Glass:
  • Jimmy Carson is in his last year of elementary school. When his school is vandalized, he decides to try and catch the culprit. While doing so, he runs into a kid genius named "Brains" Benton . . .
• Autumn Fires:
  • X and Operative Three go looking for the owner of a lost dog and wind up fighting for their lives!
• Christmas Eve in Crestwood:
  • It's a snowy Christmas Eve in Crestwood. But Brains Benton (X), and his partner Jimmy Carson (Operative Three), think that there is something amiss at the church.
• Hide 'n Seek
• Calcium Carbonate on a String
• Casualty of War

Buy! Hardbound / Golden Griffon Tribute Paperback / Deluxe Picture Cover / Deluxe Paperback

S.S. Benton & Carson − Adult Anthology

Year: 2018 / Author: Charles E. Morgan, III / Artist: None

Whatever happened to Brains Benton and Jimmy Carson? As young adults they had grown up and gone their separate ways. But they couldn't stay apart forever could they? This book is a collection of short stories that chronicles their adventures as they once again reunite and reform The Benton and Carson International Detective Agency. Only this time they're in the suburbs of Washington D.C.

NOTE: Some of these stories deal with adult themes and may not be appropriate for younger readers.

Buy! Deluxe Picture Cover / Deluxe Paperback

S.S. Christmas Eve in Crestwood − Junior Short Story (24 pages)

Year: 2008 / Author: Charles E. Morgan, III / Internal Artist: Shannon Stirnweis
(Cover of unknown origin)

It's a snowy Christmas Eve in Crestwood. But Brains Benton (X), and his partner Jimmy Carson (Operative Three), think that there is something amiss at the church. It is a Brains Benton adventure that captures the spirit of Christmas.

Internal Artwork Gallery: Shannon Stirnweis

Buy! Included in the short-story anthology: The Adventures of Benton & Carson.
Hardbound Edition with dust-jacket / Golden Rods at Twilight / eBook.

Note: This story was also briefly available in a limited and numbered Softcover Edition, produced by printer and typographer Tim Trower in 2007.

1. The Case of the Wounded Pigeon − Junior Novel (194 pages)

Year: 2008 / Author: Fred Rexroad / Internal Artist: Susan Rexroad

It's Spring. It's Saturday. School is out in two weeks. Life is good. Jimmy Carson and his best friend Brains Benton are on a leisurely bike ride when they find an injured bird under a tree. The bird happens to be a carrier pigeon wounded by a shotgun. The pigeon is also carrying a mysterious coded message! The Benton and Carson International Detective Agency is back with a new case to solve.

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Note: This story builds a mystery around the events in the closing chapter of Painted Dragon.

2. The Case of the Dancing Walrus (And Other Stories) − Junior Anthology

Year: 2015 / Author: Sean Murphy

This book contains three short stories the author wrote for his son, Ben. The cases detailed in this volume are:

• The Case of the Dancing Walrus
• The Mystery of the Forgotten Mine
• The Secret of the Sunken Sundial

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3. The Case of the Courier Cat − Junior Novel

Year: 2012 / Author: Scott Lockwood / Artist: Scott Dickerson

Brains and Jimmy come to the aid of their most unlikely client—their nosey housekeeper Mrs. Ray! She needs the services of Benton and Carson to help save her sister from being blackmailed. But the case soon becomes more complicated than even Brains expects as the boys find themselves mixed up with a mysterious cat, a rival detective agency, missing pearls, a haunted house and a mad scientist.

Can even the amazing genius of Brains Benton unmask the sinister mastermind behind the whole scheme? Whatever you do, don't miss this chance to find out!

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4. A Scandal at Crestwood College − Junior Novel

Year: 2012 / Author: Scott Lockwood / Artist: Scott Dickerson

Jimmy's sister Ann is accused of stealing answer sheets and selling them to her sorority sisters. Jimmy and Brains take on one of their most cunning foes in an effort to free Ann from prison. The evidence points to the head of the soroity's ethics commmittee, but is everything what it appears to be?

Join Jimmy and Brains as they take on one of their most dangerous cases in an attempt to unveil a sinister conspiracy aimed at launching one woman's rise to a position of unnassailable power!

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5. Brains Benton and The Subtraction Mystery − Junior Novel

Year: 2015 / Author: Scott Lockwood / Artist: Scott Dickerson

In their younger days, Barclay “Brains” Benton and Jimmy Carson formed their own detective agency and solved many crimes. But a personal tragedy resulted in Brains dissolving the agency, apparently for good. Now, years later, he heads the bionics lab of the top-secret SwiftTech Laboratories, located in Thousand Oaks, California.

But, when his investigative reporter girlfriend is injured in the course of discovering the secret behind a series of mysterious bank robberies, Brains finds himself forced out of retirement to catch the mastermind behind the strange thefts. Join Brains and Jimmy once again as they try to stop a renegade scientist and the deadly device that could be used as a weapon of mass destruction!

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6. The Case of the Other Missing Message − Junior Novel

Year: 2016 / Author: Scott Lockwood / Artist: Scott Dickerson

This is the 10th novel in the Brains Benton series of mysteries and the 2nd cross-over book to feature the famous inventor, Tom Swift. The death of a scientist at SwiftTech leads the investigation duo of Brains Benton and Jimmy Carson to the mysterious CEM/Anahuac corporation, run by the ruthless Sun Erato Ohm.

oined by their new friend, Dr. Thomasina Swift, they encounter formidable obstacles ranging from street gangs to genetically engineered giants. Will Jimmy and Brains arrive at the answer in time to save Tom Swift Jr.'s girlfriend Phyllis Newton from certain death? Or will she be threatened by a woman said to have vanished into a black hole? Don't waste a minute picking up this latest volume in the Brains Benton − Tom Swift Jr. series and find out for yourself!

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7. The Case of the Insane Woman Down Memory Lane − Adult Novel

Year: 2015 / Author: Thomas Hudson / Artist: Thomas Hudson

Famous as a pre-teen detective, Barclay "Brains" Benton and his best friend Jimmy Carson have grown up. After college Brains has gone to work for an electronics company while Jim is now a crime reporter for a newspaper in Los Angeles. Time, work and circumstances have drawn Jim back to his old home town of Crestwood while he takes a summer break from reporting. Brains joins him to take his mind off his girlfriend having moved away from California for a year. They rent an attic room and decide to take on a few small cases.

But, when a mysterious woman gets word to them through Jim's sister−she was one of Ann's favorite, if a little eccentric, teachers−that she is being stalked by aliens from outer space, both young men are drawn into one of their weirder mysteries ever. It gets even stranger when the woman's own daughter turns out to be nearly as eccentric. The two have been living in a house where it seems the only way to get in or out is to climb up the side to a second-story window! But when the old woman disappears almost out from under Brains' and Jim's noses, they just have to get to the bottom of it.

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The Case of the Devious Mastermind − Junior College-Based Novel

Year: TO BE ANNOUNCED / Author: Mark Coomer / Artist: Unknown

Formerly known as The Case of the Escaping Kangaroos, this adventure follows the exploits of Brains and Jimmy in College, where they meet the Three Investigators − Jupe, Pete and Bob − who are still juniors in high school.

Tentatively planned to have a proper release, this story is currently freely available to read in the Brains Benton Yahoo Group.

The Case of the Sultan's Skull − Adult Novel

Year: TO BE ANNOUNCED / Author: Mark Coomer / Artist: Unknown

This feature-length story takes place in 2003, when Brains and Jimmy are in their mid-50s.

Also tentatively planned to have a proper release, this story is currently freely available to read in the Brains Benton Yahoo Group.