Crime and Puzzlement: 24 Solve-Them-Yourself Picture Mysteries

Crime and Puzzlement #1

by Lawrence Treat, Leslie Cabarga (Illustrator)

Full of hitmen, sneak-thieves and kidnappers, this book offers mysteries as challenging as any novel. The clues are all here, just waiting for the reader to piece together the solutions. Guided by questions, young sleuths can narrow down the evidence and find the culprit.

Genres: Mystery

69 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1981

About the author

Lawrence Arthur Goldstone (1903 - 1998), better known by his pseudonym, Lawrence Treat, was an American mystery writer, a pioneer of the genre of novels that became known as police procedurals. A practicing lawyer before turning to writing, he was a founding member of the Mystery Writers of America and a two-time winner of the MWA's Edgar Award. His first award came in 1965, for the short story "H as in Homicide"; his second was a Special Edgar Award in 1978 for editing a new edition of the Mystery Writer's Handbook, the MWA's guide for aspiring mystery writers, first published in 1956.

As a member of the League of American Writers, he served on its Keep America Out of War Committee in January 1940 during the period of the Hitler-Stalin pact

Reviews

[Sheri]

Solve-it-yourself picture mysteries sounded like a not too difficult challenge for this mystery lover. I could read the scenario, study the picture, answer the questions, and solve the mystery using the amateur detective skills I’ve gained over the years. Well, I may have over-estimated my abilities as they weren’t all so easy to discern.

These picture mysteries range from easy to difficult and would really benefit from full page color pictures. The black and white drawings are sometimes too small to make out the finite details thus making an important clue hard to distinguish. Still, it was fun to play at detective and check my answers to verify or disprove my conclusions. I enjoyed the mental stimulation of this fun diversion.

[Yibbie]

As chance to solve a few cozy crime scenes through your own observations and deductions, it’s a fun little book. Look at the picture, but only after you read the story. Next answer the questions. Not that they are all easy. you must be very observant. I'm afraid that I was fooled a few times, but it was still fun. The only drawback is that to solve some of the mysteries you do have to make a few wild guesses.
Still, it was fun, and clean.

[Bobbi]

I worked through all of the mysteries in this book, and I can't say they were very well thought-out. There were weird assumptions built into many of them that weren't entirely logical, and even after I got wise to that, the assumptions I thought I was supposed to be making still turned me in the wrong direction. There just wasn't enough evidence or information to lead readers to the proper conclusions. I would recommend passing this one over.

[Jason Lilly]

Why the low ratings? This is a creative collection of mysteries in which the reader uses visual and textual clues to solve the mystery. I used this book with a group of high school students and their response to it was very positive. I first showed them the picture. Then, I gave them a copy of the details and read them out loud. Finally, I handed out the multiple choice questions and asked students to answer the questions based on the evidence they see and read in the clues.

I'm not sure if the poor reviews are because readers thought they book was something it wasn't or... I don't know. I do know this book makes an effective tool for teaching students how to build a case or an argument using evidence instead of opinion or speculation. The mysteries vary from challenging to simple and also provide cases that use primary sources as clues. This makes the book useful across the curriculum, as well.

[Alyssa Moore]

With modifications this is an excellent book to teach students how to look for and cite evidence in their reading. The stories are not very complex so you need to create essential questions that are probing.

[Jenny]

These are fun and mostly appropriate for you children - better for teenagers and older though. I used mine for a class on teaching the Scientific Method.
B+

[Beth]

I had this book as a kid and I loved it. There is no way to actually solve the mysteries without making wild assumptions, which would lead me to give it two stars. I give the book 3 stars because the pictures are fun and if you feel comfortable showing a crime scene to your students, you can have them write their own story about what they think happened (and ignore the ridiculous conclusions that the book suggests).

[Maxine]

This was a good little read!

The mysteries were intriguing and although several of the solutions required some pretty outdated knowledge, it was fun to put on my detective hat and give them a go.

I maybe went a little overboard in ordering all four of the sequels (including the pricey and sought-after fifth volume featuring only mysteries set in the Cape Cod locale.)

[Gonzalo Oyanedel]

Una entretenida selección de crímenes por resolver que entretendrá a aquellos con inclinaciones detectivescas.

[Katie]

The mysterious were so fun to solve!

[Angela]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/10254532

[Mark]

This looks like a promising book for helping emergent readers achieve mastery over texts.