Crime and Puzzlement 3: 24 Solve-Them-Youself Picture Mysteries

Bottom line: is "Crime & Puzzlement 3" the best of its series? No, 'fraid not. Is it a solid entry in a unique and witty series of quality puzzle books that previously-enthralled readers will snap up like corn chips? Well, come on. No question so lovingly phrased is going to be answered with a "no". You want a synopsis? You're on Vol. 3 of this series; what, did the Unisom kick in over the last 48 puzzles? OK, OK. You've got a) a crime scene, b) a list of facts, and c) a series of Pythagorean questions. You read b) and use c) to guide you through a). Basically, you're David Caruso, except you have to provide your own Shades of Justice to flip. The series has a revolving door of illustrators - Deco-influenced Leslie Cabarga in the first, Treat's wife in the second, and Paul Karasik here. No one reaches the heights of Cabarga, but I'm afraid that art quality does over the series slightly but steadily slide toward the simplistic. Karasik's art, while perfectly serviceable and friendly, is a step further away from the first installment's panache and delightful play of light and shadow. It's still solid (and it's clear, something that couldn't always be said of the art in "2"); it just doesn't paint in the corners. I bemoaned CP2's lack of CP1's playful macabre streak. Thank you, then, for the opener here, with the jockey who was brained with a skillet during a fatal carousel ride on Halloween. *No*, you don't see brains (just blood caked on top of his head), though the tots gathered about the corpse slumped over on the horsie looking bewildered in trick-or-treat masks compensates. Treat's sense of humor endures. That said: I think this installment might go a touch overboard. I paused at the smug kid who has de Sade and skull lamps in his bedroom who may or may not have electrocuted his father. (That sounds worse on paper than it plays, but you can dress up the subject matter only so much.) The black comedy's not pervasive, and the great majority of the tales are completely innocuous. When it's present, though - whoa! A little too much here! I could recommend the first two volumes to cautious parents. Here - well, it might on occasion be a little too close to nightmare fodder; take the aforementioned carousel case, for example. (I didn't have problems, and I was a pretty easy-to-nightmare kid, but your mileage may vary.) Puzzlewise, the book's quality varies. It does carry over the "crosswordese" problem from "2", where solving a few puzzles is dependent not on logic and deduction but on awareness of obscure bits of information. (I draw the line at demanding the reader be skilled in the intricacies of boat construction.) The better puzzles this time around rely not on blindsides but on good old-fashioned problem-solving and work-it-out common sense - the happy simplicity of "Upsy Downsy", the satisfying reconstructions of "Track Meet". (I'm also still irked that "Moonlight and Applesauce" got me, despite

I had this same book years ago and just HAD to buy another one. It's as much fun to read as I remembered. It's a great way to hone your observation skills.

Picking up from where he strayed, Lawrence Treat uses clever drawings and witty prose to befuddle the amateur sleuth in this third in his series. His is an excellent series of books that can be adapted for detectives of many ages-- I know because I use them with my students. Some of the puzzles require good observation, others require sharp wits, and all put a lethally grand combination of pictures and storylines that are fun to read and solve. The questions at the end of each story point sleuths in the right direction.