My 9-year-old loves these books. The quality of the mysteries varies, but overall this is a fun way to read together. ( )

Beginning sleuths and those who simply enjoy a fun game are going to dive into these pages and enjoy every single moment of fun.

This is more like a collection of games in book form...all mysteries which need to be solved. The first pages explain how to works and offer the possibility of playing each one in groups or teams or even alone (but that's not as much fun). Each mystery is rated by difficulty from very easy to very difficult, making it great for a range of age groups. It's also a mixture of using either logical deduction or more of a creative mindset, and these are also marked at the beginning of the mystery. After the mystery is presented in a clear manner with illustrated characters to help demonstrate each moment, a flip-card at the bottom holds the correct answer.

We're one of those families, who loves a good game evening. So, this was right down our line. It covers a wide range of difficulties, which considering our wide range of kids was terrific. The mysteries are presented very clearly, in an almost comic like form. It was fun to read through them and watch the humor in the illustrations before the guessing began. Some are tough. Others aren't. Others even offer hints in the illustrations. We found the difficulty rating at the beginning of each page helpful. And while a certain number of points are to be awarded with each solved mystery, we skipped over this part and simply enjoyed seeing who guess the correct answer. It was fun, kept a very animated table, and we're looking forward to going back and solving the ones we didn't yet.

These mysteries are children appropriate and do make one think, sometimes out of the box. While each one can be done alone, too, without any problem (and is also fun), I recommend the group/family setting simply because it's always more entertaining that way. Our entire family gives this one a big thumbs up.

We received a complimentary copy and found this book so much fun to work with that it's a delight to leave our honest thoughts. ( )