I'm struggling to remember the title of a book I read in the 1980s, which had a real-world twist: hidden within the narrative was the location of a spot in the USA where some sort of treasure or reward money was located. [more inside]
posted by squid patrol on Oct 26, 2009 - 9 answers

I'm looking for a short mystery stories book I read in a library. One of the stories is where a character comes up a flight of stairs and thinks he sees something (a murder?) in someone's apartment, but it's actually some kind of mirrored reflection of a mirrored reflection of someone through a window across the street. The book/collection was published before 1996 and if I remember correctly, was all short story mysteries of 5 to 20 pages.
posted by cashman on Nov 25, 2008 - 8 answers

Name that series of myster books! These books would have been found in Australian primary schools, any clues appreciated! [more inside]
posted by tomble on Oct 16, 2008 - 3 answers

Can you recommend some good mystery novels for me to read? The last mystery novels I read that I really liked were the Hilary Tamar series by Sarah Caudwell. I liked those because they were fairly light and not gory. But I especially liked them because the dialogue/narration was sharp, witty, and wry. What are some other mystery writers who write like this? [more inside]
posted by bluefly on Jul 25, 2008 - 33 answers

the child otto falls down a hill, sprains his ankle, and then the situation gets worse. help me remember what children's book this scene is from? [more inside]
posted by phoeniciansailor on May 22, 2008 - 2 answers

I'm looking for novels that are pageturners (genres preferred: science fiction/fantasy, magic realism, mystery/suspense/thriller) but also have psychologically acute character development. Any recs?
posted by Malad on Dec 20, 2007 - 33 answers

Please help me identify a deep-woods mystery novel. [more inside]
posted by tangerine on Aug 14, 2007 - 6 answers

I've been looking for a reproduction of a specifc woodcut of a dancing bear playing the violin for a long time (years and years) and I've almost given up hope - can anyone help me find it? [more inside]
posted by OverlappingElvis on Aug 8, 2006 - 5 answers

What's the most exciting novel you've ever read? I mean this in the simplest sense: an exciting plot. I'm looking for page-turners. Novels that keep you on the edge of your seat and refuse to let you sleep until you finish them. I'm looking for genre novels -- but I don't care what genres: Mystery, thriller, sci-fi, etc. (though sci-fi/fantasy has been done-to-death here, so I'm really more interested in other genres.) Oh, I care about words. So no matter how exciting, I'll quit reading if the prose is crappy. [more inside]
posted by grumblebee on May 25, 2006 - 148 answers

Someone help (Please). I remember reading a book at School in about 1979-1980, although it may have been printed way before that, it was similar to Tin Tin, and may have been about A Adventurer in space. It also contained a section where our adventurer meets aliens (I think) and you were provided with a Translation section!! Any ideas, i know it's vague, but it's kinda driving me nuts. PS I'm from England so it might be a English publication.
posted by maxmix on Dec 1, 2005 - 8 answers

Looking for Halloween-themed, pre-teen ghost mystery from the 80s. [more inside]
posted by bkdelong on Oct 23, 2005 - 4 answers

Another forgotten children's book: stories of childhood mischief including one about eating dog biscuits. [MI] [more inside]
posted by slightlybewildered on Jan 1, 2005 - 1 answer

Here's a challenge. Anyone happen to recognize the book whose cover is partially revealed/shown here? I think it looks like Ralph Nader. My friend thinks it's Al Pacino. But neither panned out. Ideas?
posted by beingdaddy on Dec 8, 2004 - 8 answers

I have seen numbers on the back of books that puzzle me; they look like this: 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13. What do these mean?
posted by msacheson on Aug 16, 2004 - 10 answers

It must have been circa September 1995 - January 1996... I saw this book at the art museum book store. I can't recall the artist's name and I have wished that I wrote it down or bought the book ever since.... it was paintings of people working in a quarry like setting and the walls and rocks and boulders had words on them. I remember red... like some of the paintings were done in shades of red (this might be my memory playing tricks on me). Any idea who the artist is? I've never been able to track he/she/it down.
posted by pissfactory on Jul 14, 2004 - 3 answers

I have a vague, sketchy recollection of a book series I used to read in 2nd and 3rd grade (20 years ago). It was about two young girls, friends, who solved mysteries together. They also had a dog that loved salami. I believe the were normal books, not comic books, but each book had cartoony pictures of "crime scenes" and such, with little arrows pointing out certain clues (kinda like Bernie Mac, except funny). Anyone have any idea what I'm talking about?
posted by emptybowl on Jul 9, 2004 - 6 answers