Paul Adshead

The Child's Play Library is an excellent series with a wide appeal: I enjoyed them and my daughters loved them from the ages of at least five to 15. The Red Herring Mystery was probably our favourite - a whodunnit it set in a stately home with the requisite eccentric suspects.

It features a spoiled cat, lots of red herrings, and readers must collect clues from the text and illustrations to help solve the disappearance of the fabulous fish-shaped ruby. It's quite a tough puzzle too - rather show more too much of a challenge for younger readers who will nevertheless enjoy the book for the wonderful pictures and amusing characters, one of whom is called Agnes Crusty in homage to the mistress of the genre... show less

I got this book as a gift when I was 11. I loved figuring out the puzzles as a kid but I never solved it. Recently I made it a mission of mine to try again. This time, as an adult, I made it all the way through. It was such fun to finally solve the final puzzle and find the dodo bird! I might have shrieked in joy. heehee!

Love the art and the challenge of completely solving this book, which can take several hours.

Very fun to read with my kids, and at parties!