Case Closed #4: Danger on the Dig

Case Closed #4

by Lauren Magaziner

Pick-your-own path and puzzle-packed mystery collide in the fourth book in Lauren Magaziner’s hilarious and interactive middle grade series as Las Pistas Detective Agency gets its first international case at an archaeological dig in Greece.

In this wildly entertaining and interactive adventure, YOU pick which suspects to interview, which questions to ask, and which clues to follow. You pick the path—you crack the case!

Carlos and Eliza may be going on separate paths, but their end goal is the same—keep the booby traps from taking their detective agency out! But with tricky puzzles and dozens of impossible choices, they need your help! Can you help Carlos and his friend find the lost treasure . . . and can you protect it from the culprit trying to steal it?

Can you help Carlos and his friends unravel the mystery before it’s too late? Or will it be case closed?

Middle grade readers will enjoy all four books in this favorite Mystery in the Mansion (#1), Stolen from the Studio (#2), Haunting at the Hotel (#3), and Danger on the Dig (#4)!

Genres: Mystery, Gamebooks, Choose Your Own Adventure, Mystery Thriller

443 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 17, 2022

About the author

Lauren Magaziner is the internationally bestselling author of the The Incorruptibles series, the Case Closed series, The Mythics series. She is also the author of stand-alone humorous middle grade books: The Only Thing Worse Than Witches, Pilfer Academy, and Wizardmatch. Lauren is originally from New Hope, Pennsylvania, and she currently resides in Philadelphia, where she writes full-time. You can visit her at laurenmagaziner.com or follow along with her newsletter at laurenmagaziner.substack.com.

Reviews

[Marlea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was cute, I read it with my class of fourth graders. I did feel like it was lacking in plot though. It’s a ‘choose your own adventure’ so things do need to tie up from various angles, and I do get that. But, I don’t know, this one seemed to be missing something. The kids really liked the concept so we bought another to try.

One big gripe I had was the triangle puzzle. It says to count the triangles to get to your next page. We tried for so long to solve it, but couldn’t get the right page. After flipping through, I was able to find the solved puzzle on another page and see what we were doing wrong. A bunch of triangles on that page make a shape. The only triangles that matter are in that shape, but nowhere does it say to disregard all other triangles on the page. It also doesn’t follow the shape-within-a-shape rule for finding triangles. We tried everything but never got the answer so the we all thought that as a letdown. We only got one other puzzle, a sudoku style one, and enjoyed that one.

There was also a very strange scene involving pronouns. It wasn’t the pronouns that gave me pause, but it felt included to be progressive, not because it made sense in any sort of context.

[Carolyn Bragg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Case number 4. Las Pistas Detective Agency has been hired to solve thefts on an archaeological dig. The kids were requested specifically; Carlos, Eliza, and her little brother Frank (the loud--my description). Along with Carlos's Mom, they are flown to Greece!

As a "pick your path" book, the reader comes to proverbial forks in the road where they must choose one of two options. But choose wisely! Because that choice can mean the team's success, defeat, or doom! (The books I used to read didn't include possible or certain death, but this one does!) Some endings are amusing, but some are just ridiculous.

Above all, beware of puns! Puns are terrible jokes based on word-play that children (and often dad's) enjoy. If they don't get you, something else might!

This is an inventive and sometimes silly book with thought puzzles and hard choices. Deducing who the thief is may depend on your wits or choices, but it's worth the adventure to see what happens!

Case Closed book 4 is intended for ages 8-12, but would be fun for any age, including adults. And some sections would be good "story starters" for creative writing!

Note: Las Pistas = The Clues

4/5 Stars
Revenge of the slide presenter closes the case, really? -1 Star

Thanks to Harper Collins Children's Books and NetGalley for the preview of this adventure ebook; the review is voluntary.

#CaseClosed4DangerontheDig #NetGalley

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Case Closed #4: Danger on the Dig is a unique and interactive mystery perfect for curious middle grade readers - and their parents! Carlos, Eliza and Frank, the children of the Las Pistas Detective Agency have their first case. They are in Greece, investigating thefts from an archeological dig. The archaeologists are searching for the Necklace of Harmonia which is promised to give eternal youth. Their search will be complicated by mysterious disappearances, more theft and kidnapping.

How does this end? You decide! There are choices for how to proceed. Who do you interview next? Do you turn back or go forward? What questions do you ask? There are puzzles to solve for clues. If you aren’t satisfied with the action, go back and change your decision! This is a delightful mystery that can be read over and over again. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins Children's Books and Lauren Magaziner for this ARC.

[Michelle Kidwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Case Closed #4: Danger on the Dig
by Lauren Magaziner
Pub Date 17 May 2022 | Archive Date 12 Jul 2022
HarperCollins Children's Books, Katherine Tegen Books
Children's Fiction | Middle Grade | Mystery & Thrillers


I am reviewing a copy of Case Closed #4: Danger on the Dig through HarperCollins Children’s Books, Katherine Tegen Books and Netgalley:




Carlos and Eliza are going on separate paths, but their end goal is the same—keep the booby traps from taking their detective agency out. But they must solve tricky puzzles as well as make dozens of impossible choices, they need your help! Can you help Carlos and his friend find the lost treasure and can you protect it from the culprit trying to steal it?




Will you be able to help Carlos and his friends unravel the mystery before it’s too late? Or will it be case closed?



I give Case Closed #4 Danger in the Dig five out of five stars!



Happy Reading!

[Samhitha Yenumala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solve the riddles and solve the case!

[Samhitha Yenumala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this mystery book and solve the case!

[Dubby.J · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good, but when you have to figure out all the puzzles and sometimes you need a pen and paper to do that and your copy is from the library it is very hard to do that.

[Allison Renner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book seemed really different from the other three, maybe because they were all mostly set inside? It was still good though, and had really great puzzles.

[Marie Sontag · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the Choose Your Own Adventure stories growing up, but, for me, Magaziner’s 4th book in her Case Closed series fell flat,

Many of the paths seemed so arbitrary. I felt like I was wandering around with the kids and not accomplishing much. None of the characters, including the mom, seemed to have enough detective savvy to be an “agency,”especially compared to Ponti’s characters in his City Spies series, or Framed books.

I also felt the insertion of the computer character using pronouns of they and their was a forced inclusion, unnecessary to the plot. Parents looking for good mystery/detective books for their kids should avoid this series.

[Yaroslava · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book really quickly and it was so fun! I loved how you have little puzzles and riddles to go to the next page. A very nice mystery!

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Las partes en las que fuerzan los pronombres le,
... sobran...
Es un poco más lioso que los anteriores libros de la colección.