Eric Weiner (1)

The ending (who the killer is & why they're doing it) didn't really make sense. It seemed like it was a plot twist just for the sake of a twist with no real logic or reason behind it. That said, I did enjoy it in an eyerolling, guilty pleasure way. There are "jokes" that weren't even funny in 1994 and one character is overweight and you are constantly reminded of this in the most fat-phobic way possible. I struggled to rate this, but decided that I would give it 3 stars because while it's show more dated and sometimes offensive it did have entertaining kills and there is one final plot twist after the killer is revealed that made it all worth it. show less

As a child I adored these books (in part because of my love of that eminently classic 1985 film) but I also hope/think it gets better as the series goes on. This book is enjoyable enough for child sleuths, but it stumbles in that most of the mysteries here are essentially elaborations on what could be a single-paragraph riddle. "If person X went through these rooms in this order, and still had an item in room C but had lost it by room E, what room could it be in?", or "if there were crumbs show more on A, B and C, mud on the shoes of B, C and D, and chalk powder on B and D, which one of them had all the telltale signs of the murder?" (with the book helpfully telling you what you need to do). Sometimes even something as simple as a sentence worded in such a way as to be at first exonerating but in fact guilt-proving. These are intended for kids, but not little kids, and I'd like something a bit meatier. I think the later books have a bit more fun with creating miniature puzzles where the reader has to do a touch of work. The narrative voice is good fun, though. show less

The ending (who the killer is & why they're doing it) didn't really make sense. It seemed like it was a plot twist just for the sake of a twist with no real logic or reason behind it. That said, I did enjoy it in an eyerolling, guilty pleasure way. There are "jokes" that weren't even funny in 1994 and one character is overweight and you are constantly reminded of this in the most fat-phobic way possible. I struggled to rate this, but decided that I would give it 3 stars because while it's show more dated and sometimes offensive it did have entertaining kills and there is one final plot twist after the killer is revealed that made it all worth it. show less

It's one of those mystery books with the answers at back, like the Encyclopedia Brown books. Unlike those, it doesn't depend on knowing some more-or-less obscure fact; it requires answering a simple logic problem, like really tiny versions of the ones sold in magazines at the drug store. I'd say it's for a younger audience than Encyclopedia Brown books, and certainly not an older audience; say, eight to twelve maybe. (Take with salt.) As such, there's the murder of a pet, lots of theft, show more violence, fake death, and capping it off the real death of Mr. Boddy, all done with the same comic lightness you'd expect from a Clue book. show less