Super Puzzletastic Mysteries: Short Stories for Young Sleuths from Mystery Writers of America

by Chris Grabenstein, Stuart Gibbs, Lamar Giles, Bruce Hale, Peter Lerangis

Overview

Bestselling author Chris Grabenstein and the Mystery Writers of America bring together twenty peerless puzzles—from bestselling authors such as Peter Lerangis, Stuart Gibbs, Lauren Magaziner, Kate Milford, and, of course, Grabenstein himself—in an anthology of mystery short stories that invite readers to try to unravel the riddles themselves.

From tales of hapless superheroes and stolen squirrel monkeys to murderous triplets and haunted basements, these thrilling, puzzling, and hilarious cases have one thing in common—YOU get a chance to be the detective before the author reveals the solution.

With twenty never-before-published mystery stories, this collection will leave young detectives sleuthing for more!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062884206
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	06/23/2020
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	694,707
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.40(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Chris Grabenstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the winner of multiple awards for his Haunted Mystery series. He lives in New York City with his wife, JJ, two cats, and a dog named Fred, who starred on Broadway in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Stuart Gibbs is the author of the FunJungle series as well as the New York Times bestselling Spy School and Moon Base Alpha series. He has written the screenplays for movies like See Spot Run and Repli-Kate, worked on many animated films, and developed TV shows for Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, ABC, and Fox. Stuart lives with his wife and two children in Los Angeles. You can visit him online at www.stuartgibbs.com.

Lamar Giles writes for teens and adults. He is the author of the Edgar Award finalists Fake ID and Endangered as well as the critically acclaimed Overturned, Spin, and The Last Last-Day-of-Summer. He is a founding member of We Need Diverse Books and resides in Virginia. Visit him online at www.lamargiles.com.

Bruce Hale has written and/or illustrated over sixty books for kids and is the author of Clark the Shark; Clark the Shark Dares to Share; the award-winning Chet Gecko Mysteries series; Snoring Beauty, one of Oprah’s Recommended Reads for Kids; and the School for S.P.I.E.S. series. In his free time, Bruce enjoys hiking, watching movies, and making music. He lives in Santa Barbara, California, with his wife, dog, and many hats. You can catch him online at www.brucehale.com.

Peter Lerangis is the author of more than one hundred and sixty books, which have sold more than five and half million copies and been translated into thirty-three different languages. These include the five books in the New York Times bestselling Seven Wonders series, The Colossus Rises, Lost in Babylon, The Tomb of Shadows, The Curse of the King, and The Legend of the Rift, and two books in the 39 Clues series. He lives in New York City with his family.

Taylor Whitesides always wished to be an author. Somehow he accomplished it without the help of a genie and wrote the acclaimed Janitors and Wishmakers series. When he’s not writing, Tyler loves eating good food, playing drums, and fishing. He lives in northern Utah with his wife and son. Visit him online at www.tylerwhitesides.com.

Table of Contents

Introduction Chris Grabenstein 1

Snow Devils: A Riley Mack Story Chris Grabenstein 5

Possum-Man and Janet Steve Hockensmith 23

Monkey Business: A Funjungle Mystery Stuart Gibbs 44

The Fifty-Seventh Cat Sheela Chari 51

The Perfect Alibi Fleur Bradley 66

Three Brothers, Two Sisters, and One Cup of Poison Lauren Magaziner 80

The Haunted Typewriter Gigi Pandian 97

Surprise. Party Lamar Giles 110

The Dapperlings Kate Milford 119

Codename: Mom Laura Brennan 136

The Red Envelope Lara Cassidy 146

Whiz Tanner and the Pilfered Cashbox: A Tanner-Dent Mystery Fred Rexroad 164

The Magic Day Mystery Bryan Patrick Avery 176

Puzzling It Out Eileen Rendahl 196

The Mechanical Bank Job Mo Walsh 212

The Scary Place Alane Ferguson 228

Ottonetics Peter Lerangis 244

Gridlock Jones Cracks the Case Bruce Hale 265

The Case of the Mysterious Mystery Writer Tyler Whitesides 280

TRICKED! A Framed Story James Ponti 297

Solutions 317

About the Authors 379

Editorial Reviews

05/11/2020

Multiple Edgar Award winners and nominees are among the 20 contributors to this engaging anthology of snappily paced capers entailing codes, ciphers, and math and science puzzles. Several gumshoes featured here have demonstrated their sleuthing prowess in book series: Grabenstein’s Riley Mack identifies the perpetrator of a history quiz cheating prank; Stuart Gibbs brings back FunJungle protagonist Teddy Fitzroy to solve the mystery of a missing monkey; and Florian Bates, the 12-year-old FBI consultant from James Ponti’s novels, locates the NHL’s purloined Stanley Cup. Other compelling selections include a puzzler by Sheela Chari, inspired by a real-life museum theft, and Lauren Magaziner’s whodunit about eerily identical triplets. A standout is Peter Lerangis’s enthralling tale involving a boy who befriends a homeless man in Central Park, a vintage puzzle book, a Fabergé egg appropriated by the Nazis, and a poignant father-son reunion. Grabenstein encourages readers to crack the cases before turning to end-of-book solutions, which cleverly read as continuations of the stories rather than objective revelations. Ages 8–12. (June)

Publishers Weekly

06/01/2020

Gr 3–6—This collection of 20 short mysteries offers a variety of puzzling capers by a range of authors. The solutions to the stories are found in the back of the book. From stolen fundraising money to kidnapped squirrel monkeys to magical misdirection, each narrative presents a unique opportunity to practice deduction and problem-solving skills before the tale's conclusion. Some stories offer humor, like Grabenstein's own "Snow Devils" and Steve Hockensmith's "Possum-Man and Janet," while others supply clues as varied as crossword puzzles (Lara Cassidy's "The Red Envelope"), ciphers (Gigi Pandian's "The Haunted Typewriter"), and magic squares ("Puzzling it Out" by Eileen Rendahl). Some of the puzzles are trickier than others, but the common theme across all entries is the importance of keeping an open mind and teamwork. Indeed, as Grabenstein suggests in his introduction, each story is short enough to make for a fun classroom read-aloud, presumably followed by a collaborative attempt to solve the mystery. VERDICT An engaging addition to a school library collection, especially one where middle grade mysteries, puzzles, and mind teasers are in high demand.—Dana West, Roosevelt H.S., Seattle, WA

School Library Journal

2020-02-09
In the spirit of Donald Sobol, creator of Encyclopedia Brown, 20 writers for young people offer short mysteries for budding sleuths to tackle…solutions in the back.

The MacGuffins range from the usual suspects (missing artworks, fundraising proceeds, and valuable jewelry) to more-unusual engines of mystery, such as whether a supposed ghost is real or not and who stomped out the giant letters “F-A-R-T” in the snow. In each case, one kid or a small group winkles out clues, identifies suspects, and then gathers for a denouement. None of these entries are no-brainers, being either chock full of red herrings, fiendishly tricky, or reliant on coded messages or, for that “ghost,” a knowledge of atmospheric physics. Kate Milford’s locked-room–style camp tale will require some serious thinking outside the box while Steve Hockensmith’s “Possum Man and Janet,” in which a fifth grader reluctantly accompanies her truly dim-bulb superhero uncle on a caper, is one of several entries that are entertaining even without the requisite deductive wizardry. Readers can check their own solutions at the end, where the contributors have laid out all the clues and reasoning. Though character unsurprisingly takes a back seat to mise-en-scène, names and details hint at some cultural and racial diversity in the casts, and Bruce Hale’s young sherlock, Gabriel “Gridlock” Jones, uses a wheelchair.

Tasty challenges for preteen Poirots, middle-grade Miss Marples, and “Jigsaw Jones” grads. (Mystery/short stories. 4-6)

Kirkus Reviews