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Classic Whodunits
Solve the crimes...if you can. Armchair detectives who love a baffling mystery will find just what they crave in this collection of wickedly devious whodunits. These are stories where the writer plays skillfully with the reader's mind and where the pivotal piece of evidence appears at first to make no sense--even though it must. Match wits with some stupendously clever sleuths (including Sherlock Holmes) on their cases and try to figure out the puzzles, clues, and marvelous twists that unlock the mysteries. Every story is brain-busting fun.
275 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 24, 2023
This volume of mystery-puzzles contains four segments, starring four different fictional detectives, drawn from four different books by different authors, which were originally published separately:
Section 1: Sherman Oliver Holmes: These are of the traditional "spot the contradiction" format, familiar to anyone who's read Donald J. Sobol's stories featuring Encyclopedia Brown or Dr. Haledjian (of the Two Minute Mysteries column). They aren't so deftly presented as Sobol's work, and some are pretty clumsy.
Section 2: Thomas P. Stanwick. These are a mixture of conventional "contradiction" puzzles and logic puzzles. These are the best-presented and fairest puzzles in the book.
Section 3: Inspector Forsooth. These, I guess, originally played out on the internet, with users able to ask for details and slight hints, and to submit proposed solutions. (The hints and details are provided in print here.) These are frankly too convoluted to be realistically solvable by any given person, requiring leaps of imagination too large to be considered fair, and it's not much fun to see how clever the author was able to be when the point is to solve the puzzles.
Section 4: Sherlock Holmes. These are purely algebra and logic word problems. Passable. Not exactly up to the Martin Gardner standard.
Section 1: Sherman Oliver Holmes: These are of the traditional "spot the contradiction" format, familiar to anyone who's read Donald J. Sobol's stories featuring Encyclopedia Brown or Dr. Haledjian (of the Two Minute Mysteries column). They aren't so deftly presented as Sobol's work, and some are pretty clumsy.
Section 2: Thomas P. Stanwick. These are a mixture of conventional "contradiction" puzzles and logic puzzles. These are the best-presented and fairest puzzles in the book.
Section 3: Inspector Forsooth. These, I guess, originally played out on the internet, with users able to ask for details and slight hints, and to submit proposed solutions. (The hints and details are provided in print here.) These are frankly too convoluted to be realistically solvable by any given person, requiring leaps of imagination too large to be considered fair, and it's not much fun to see how clever the author was able to be when the point is to solve the puzzles.
Section 4: Sherlock Holmes. These are purely algebra and logic word problems. Passable. Not exactly up to the Martin Gardner standard.
October 8, 2025
Ehhhhhh the first section of the book had some interesting whodunnits, but the rest were subpar with the last section being math word problems. I returned it 😆
February 1, 2014
Classic Whodunits
Author: Stanley Smith, Tom Bullimore, Derrick Niederman, Hy Conrad, Tatjana Mai Wyss
I love to read bedtime stories when I babysit but can't get into a big book or I'd have to send it home to be finished. This book is the perfect couple page story that causes the kids to think about the clues and the answers without keeping us up past bedtime to get to a good stopping point. You can pick it up after a day or month or a year and still enjoy stories from this book without having to remind yourself of what you already read.
The book has five sections - four sections with each section telling the stories of one main character and a fifth in the back with the solutions. We loved the "Sherman Oliver Holmes" and "Sherlock Holmes" stories because they were great bedtime stories and the answers were at the end so we couldn't accidentally cheat. We didn't care as much for the number puzzles with the Thomas P. Stanwick & Inspector Forsooth as bedtime stories though as they meant too much thought and even getting out paper.
This is a compact, sturdy, hardcover book with illustrations that enhance the stories without giving anything away until you are ready.
Backcover: You solve the crimes! Do you love a baffling mystery when the writer plays with your mind and the pivotal piece of the evidence appears to make no sense even though it has to? Join forces with some expert crime-solvers to untangle the clues and find the guilty parties in these wickedly devious whodunits. Can you figure ou the marvelously simple twists that unlock the mysteries? Was the murder a frame-up? Does that "innocent" bystander bear up under scrutiny? You come up with the answers.
Author: Stanley Smith, Tom Bullimore, Derrick Niederman, Hy Conrad, Tatjana Mai Wyss
I love to read bedtime stories when I babysit but can't get into a big book or I'd have to send it home to be finished. This book is the perfect couple page story that causes the kids to think about the clues and the answers without keeping us up past bedtime to get to a good stopping point. You can pick it up after a day or month or a year and still enjoy stories from this book without having to remind yourself of what you already read.
The book has five sections - four sections with each section telling the stories of one main character and a fifth in the back with the solutions. We loved the "Sherman Oliver Holmes" and "Sherlock Holmes" stories because they were great bedtime stories and the answers were at the end so we couldn't accidentally cheat. We didn't care as much for the number puzzles with the Thomas P. Stanwick & Inspector Forsooth as bedtime stories though as they meant too much thought and even getting out paper.
This is a compact, sturdy, hardcover book with illustrations that enhance the stories without giving anything away until you are ready.
Backcover: You solve the crimes! Do you love a baffling mystery when the writer plays with your mind and the pivotal piece of the evidence appears to make no sense even though it has to? Join forces with some expert crime-solvers to untangle the clues and find the guilty parties in these wickedly devious whodunits. Can you figure ou the marvelously simple twists that unlock the mysteries? Was the murder a frame-up? Does that "innocent" bystander bear up under scrutiny? You come up with the answers.
October 12, 2023
Really only half of this book is good.
The last part with "Match wits with Sherlock Holmes" is nothing but a series of logic puzzles and math problems. Nothing really to do with a "who done it" and should have been excluded.
The one with Forsooth required outside knowledge of things to solve the mystery. Like knowing when certain New York license plates were used to know the year to know where the Tennis match was that they don't mention in the text. Or what cities are in the same time zone.
The rest however are the classics. Someone said something wrong, glass on the inside/outside, etc.
The last part with "Match wits with Sherlock Holmes" is nothing but a series of logic puzzles and math problems. Nothing really to do with a "who done it" and should have been excluded.
The one with Forsooth required outside knowledge of things to solve the mystery. Like knowing when certain New York license plates were used to know the year to know where the Tennis match was that they don't mention in the text. Or what cities are in the same time zone.
The rest however are the classics. Someone said something wrong, glass on the inside/outside, etc.
February 11, 2009
Some of the whodunits were better than others. The ending one would be especially be fun for middle school math students where a little algebra helps you solve the mystery.
March 16, 2010
More than 100 mysteries for you to solve, by exercising the brain and having some fun.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews