It's another "what should I read?" question
August 27, 2020 9:54 AM Subscribe
Can you recommend short stories, novellas, and novels about scavenger hunts or treasure hunts?
I finally read the classic The Westing Game this summer and now I'm in the middle of Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts and I am really enjoying it, and I'd like to read more treasure hunt / scavenger hunt shorts stories/novellas/novels.
Pluses: good dialogue, a strong sense of place (one of the things I'm really enjoying is how rooted Tuesday is in Boston, diverse characters (I recently tried to reread Angels and Demons and bounced hard off the first ten pages; I know too many swarmy white dude college profs these days!), novellas (short attention span theater is always good right now).
Non-starters: on screen animal harm, on screen sexual assault or SA as a main theme.
Other than that, it's open season, because if there's something that doesn't work for me, it might speak to someone else.
It looks like the last similar question was 2016, and I really appreciate that the green is always willing to make book suggestions. :)
I finally read the classic The Westing Game this summer and now I'm in the middle of Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts and I am really enjoying it, and I'd like to read more treasure hunt / scavenger hunt shorts stories/novellas/novels.
Pluses: good dialogue, a strong sense of place (one of the things I'm really enjoying is how rooted Tuesday is in Boston, diverse characters (I recently tried to reread Angels and Demons and bounced hard off the first ten pages; I know too many swarmy white dude college profs these days!), novellas (short attention span theater is always good right now).
Non-starters: on screen animal harm, on screen sexual assault or SA as a main theme.
Other than that, it's open season, because if there's something that doesn't work for me, it might speak to someone else.
It looks like the last similar question was 2016, and I really appreciate that the green is always willing to make book suggestions. :)
Response by poster: One comment and then I'm out: YA is totally on the table (I love YA) and thank you for reminding me about Konigsberg! The Mixed Up Files is one of my favorite books and I always forget that they wrote more books. :)
posted by joycehealy at 10:12 AM on August 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by joycehealy at 10:12 AM on August 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore has a short story companion, Chasing Vermeer (4 books plus some related stories), Dash and Lily's Book of Dares (teenage romance with a sequel)
I feel like both The Rook and Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley are in this vein, though more puzzlers than straight up scavenger hunts. They are full of assault and body horror, though.
posted by soelo at 10:19 AM on August 27, 2020
I feel like both The Rook and Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley are in this vein, though more puzzlers than straight up scavenger hunts. They are full of assault and body horror, though.
posted by soelo at 10:19 AM on August 27, 2020
You might like Maureen Johnson’s Truly Devious series, and Racculia’s Bellweather Rhapsody, which is not exactly a treasure hunt but similar vibes.
posted by ferret branca at 10:56 AM on August 27, 2020
posted by ferret branca at 10:56 AM on August 27, 2020
Also YA: "Amy and Laura," the third in the trilogy by Marilyn Sachs, has a wonderful scavenger hunt scene.
posted by Melismata at 11:20 AM on August 27, 2020
posted by Melismata at 11:20 AM on August 27, 2020
Not sure if you'll count this as a treasure hunt based on The Westing Game, but the book I thought of immediately was Headlong.
posted by Mchelly at 11:22 AM on August 27, 2020
posted by Mchelly at 11:22 AM on August 27, 2020
These are all middle grade/YA:
Laura Ruby's The Shadow Cipher is set in an alternate New York City and requires the protagonists to solve a centuries-old cipher in an effort to save the apartment building they live in. It's the first in a series (book 2 came out last year).
Greenglass House by Kate Milford is about kid a whose parents run a B&B. When a bunch of guests become snowed in after a storm, strange things start happening and the kids try to figure out who's doing it and why.
Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald is an art history mystery a la Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.
Secrets of Shakespeare's Grave by Deron R. Hicks is a literary treasure hunt/family secrets mystery.
The Glass Sentence by S.E. Grove is the first book of a trilogy in an alternate universe where all the continents were thrown into different time periods and involves maps and a quest for missing family members.
posted by mogget at 11:22 AM on August 27, 2020
Laura Ruby's The Shadow Cipher is set in an alternate New York City and requires the protagonists to solve a centuries-old cipher in an effort to save the apartment building they live in. It's the first in a series (book 2 came out last year).
Greenglass House by Kate Milford is about kid a whose parents run a B&B. When a bunch of guests become snowed in after a storm, strange things start happening and the kids try to figure out who's doing it and why.
Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald is an art history mystery a la Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.
Secrets of Shakespeare's Grave by Deron R. Hicks is a literary treasure hunt/family secrets mystery.
The Glass Sentence by S.E. Grove is the first book of a trilogy in an alternate universe where all the continents were thrown into different time periods and involves maps and a quest for missing family members.
posted by mogget at 11:22 AM on August 27, 2020
The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez Reverte might be worth a go
posted by crocomancer at 11:26 AM on August 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by crocomancer at 11:26 AM on August 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
I really really enjoyed Gideon the Ninth and it's sequel. There is one more planned. Sort of a solve the puzzle or die trying set of books. The puzzles in the first one are more puzzle like, in the second more WTH is going on, but I can't wait to read more from Tamsyn Muir.
posted by OmieWise at 11:27 AM on August 27, 2020
posted by OmieWise at 11:27 AM on August 27, 2020
Kubrick's Game by Derek Taylor Kent was really fun. Especially recommended if you're a movie fan generally or a Stanley Kubrick fan specifically.
posted by dgeiser13 at 11:31 AM on August 27, 2020
posted by dgeiser13 at 11:31 AM on August 27, 2020
Edgar Allen Poe's The Gold Bug fits this description!
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 4:41 PM on August 27, 2020
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 4:41 PM on August 27, 2020
Treasure Island. It's the original. Well, the Odyssey was earlier.
Also the movie It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
posted by SemiSalt at 6:13 PM on August 27, 2020
Also the movie It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
posted by SemiSalt at 6:13 PM on August 27, 2020
The Story of the Treasure Seekers by E. Nesbit.
Here is a version to read on line, so you can try it out and see if the style works for you.
It's considered seminal in children's fiction. It would be a little tricky for a young reader nowadays but would be light reading for an adult.
posted by Jane the Brown at 6:39 PM on August 27, 2020
Here is a version to read on line, so you can try it out and see if the style works for you.
It's considered seminal in children's fiction. It would be a little tricky for a young reader nowadays but would be light reading for an adult.
posted by Jane the Brown at 6:39 PM on August 27, 2020
The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson is also MG. It addresses gentrification and racism and has a good treasure hunt.
Nthing Chasing Vermeer and Mixed Up Files.
I love this genre and mostly find it in middle grade.
posted by azalea_chant at 11:02 PM on August 27, 2020
Nthing Chasing Vermeer and Mixed Up Files.
I love this genre and mostly find it in middle grade.
posted by azalea_chant at 11:02 PM on August 27, 2020
Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman is an MG novel about a book scavenger hunt. (You probably guessed that from the title.) It's a lot of fun and, as a bonus, it's set in San Francisco and has a very strong sense of place.
posted by yankeefog at 3:00 AM on August 28, 2020
posted by yankeefog at 3:00 AM on August 28, 2020
In the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure Of The Six Napoleons, there is a character, not Holmes, who is on a treasure hunt of sorts.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:05 AM on August 28, 2020
posted by SemiSalt at 5:05 AM on August 28, 2020
My favourite section of Ozma of Oz is the part at the end in the Nome King's palace, where Dorothy and her companions are essentially presented with a hidden-object game. Not quite a treasure hunt, but might appeal.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 5:16 AM on August 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 5:16 AM on August 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
In Paula Danziger's ya Remember Me to Harold Square and Thames Doesn't Rhyme with James the kids explore NY and London.
posted by brujita at 9:46 AM on August 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by brujita at 9:46 AM on August 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
They're non-fiction essays rather than the novels etc you asked about but I have three long online pieces on my website which might interest you.
The Treasure Hunt Riots (1904 newspaper hunt causes nationwide chaos).
Lobby Lud ("Find this man and win £50").
Kit Williams' Masquerade (1970s treasure book sparks global craze).
[Mods: All three of these are self-links. Please delete if I've overstepped the mark by posting them here. Thanks.]
posted by Paul Slade at 10:14 AM on August 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
The Treasure Hunt Riots (1904 newspaper hunt causes nationwide chaos).
Lobby Lud ("Find this man and win £50").
Kit Williams' Masquerade (1970s treasure book sparks global craze).
[Mods: All three of these are self-links. Please delete if I've overstepped the mark by posting them here. Thanks.]
posted by Paul Slade at 10:14 AM on August 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
Another MG one: The Ambrose Deception by Emily Ecton it, as well as the previously mentioned Chasing Vermeer by a different author, have a strong sense of Chicago.
posted by azalea_chant at 10:27 AM on August 28, 2020
posted by azalea_chant at 10:27 AM on August 28, 2020
The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright. The Diamond in the Window by Jane Langton. Both are children's books. AS Byatt's Possession - adult literary fiction.
posted by paduasoy at 2:32 AM on August 29, 2020
posted by paduasoy at 2:32 AM on August 29, 2020
Jason Goodwin's "Inspector Yashim" series might appeal. The premise is "detective novel meets 19th century Istanbul", and the author (a Byzantine history scholar) pulls that off more accurately and respectfully then you might imagine.
Lost treasures/artifacts are sometimes involved, usually in service of a larger mystery plot. But it has "sense of place" in spades.
posted by SaurianNotSaurian at 6:58 AM on August 31, 2020
Lost treasures/artifacts are sometimes involved, usually in service of a larger mystery plot. But it has "sense of place" in spades.
posted by SaurianNotSaurian at 6:58 AM on August 31, 2020
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posted by SeedStitch at 10:00 AM on August 27, 2020 [3 favorites]