We’ve just posted an outline of the plot for episode 2. This is the story of how it developed, and who was involved:

Episode 1 was posted two weeks ago (watch it before reading any further!). We asked where Aileen would go next and why. M.J., Kati, P4/5 Pentland Primary and Niall said she should check out the scene of the crime, but Tom pointed out that Aileen was a suspect so probably wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near. Anna put in the idea that Kyle could deal with the investigations and keep Aileen updated.

There was a lot of agreement that Aileen needed to find out what was in the missing book. Nadia pointed this out early on; Pomme and Tom agreed – and also pointed out that she needs to know what “K.B.E.” means. Anna had a great idea: that a society of bibliophiles might be able to help. The society name voted the winner was libertine101‘s Invisible Inc.

So, we’ve started episode 2 with an update on Kyle’s investigations. He’s got a good lead from the head librarian – a specialist book shop that might have a copy of Sally Challenger’s expedition journal. He’s also heard some hints about a shadowy secret society of book lovers who might be able to help.

But, we also decided that Kyle would be likely to get in trouble for helping Aileen. We know he’s going to be suspended – but Aileen doesn’t. She’s probably worried about him – we also know she has a secret soft spot for Kyle.

We also found out that Watson isn’t a criminal spydog (although Emily, Calum and Conor had some suspicions) and that Aileen isn’t the book thief (Kris had a good argument in favour of Aileen’s innocence), so we’re able to concentrate on them solving the crime. We decided Aileen wasn’t being kidnapped by the bus driver (although P4/5 Pentland Primary, Stephanie, Lewis and Calum had some imaginative ideas).

So, as Aileen is free to investigate, she heads to Iowa City to follow Kyle’s lead. We’ve chosen Iowa City because the name “Invisible Inc.” suggests it’s based somewhere in North America – and Iowa City, like Edinburgh, is a UNESCO City of Literature.

Once in Iowa City, we’ve given Invisible Inc. a bookshop to cover their secret activities. We know our new character is a member of Invisible Inc. – Tom and Anna thought she might work in a museum or library, but Tom also mentioned the American Book Center (ABC) – a bookshop that is perhaps linked to Anna‘s suggestions for a secret society, the Alexandrian Bibliophilic Concilium. This seemed a genius idea, and the “Inc” part of Invisible Inc seemed better suited to a company such as a shop than a non-profit museum or library.

The name Doc Rebus? Well, it’s partly in homage to Edinburgh’s very own Inspector Rebus. And, partly because a rebus is a sort of puzzle. And, it’s also an anagram of “obscured” – a near synonym of “invisible”.

We want Aileen to find out what’s in the expedition journal – but she can’t discover it yet, because we don’t know ourselves! If you’d like to help write the journal, enter our microstory competition. By the time episode 2 is ready, we should have the first three or four entries in the journal (we already have the first one – written by Matthias, the first winner of the competition – but there will be other winners every week). So, the copy at Doc Rebus’s has had most of its pages stolen.

We think our new character is going to help Aileen now she realises that the thieves have even reached Iowa City. They can’t talk openly in the bookshop, so we couldn’t resist setting up a meeting using invisible ink! Also, she can’t tell Aileen what “K.B.E.” stands for as we don’t know yet (although Julian and Connor have some ideas) – we’ll work this out together before episode 3.

Finally, the name of Copper Beeches Cafe comes from a Sherlock Holmes short story (‘The Adventure of the Copper Beeches’ in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes).

Thanks also to: everyone who’s voted in our polls, John, Siobhan, Donald, all the BookCrossers, Carlissa, Hannah, Bookguide, Kiwi, Grumpy, Happy, Dopey and Sneezy (not really!), Snaknap, Su-a and Euan.