Five-Minute Mysteries 3: Another 40 Cases of Murder and Mayhem for You to Solve

Memorandum To: ALL MYSTERY BUFFS From: the author Mystery buffs know there are only two kinds of people in the world: those that love mysteries and, well, that other kind. A tiny majority, the latter are, and that's a good thing because they are missing something unique. For only in mysteries can a reader get a charge out of winning or losing. It works like this. Nothing gives mystery buffs more satisfaction than getting ahead in a story and beating the writer to the punch. They get a special charge out of combining logic, analysis, intuition and insight so that before they turn the last page, they already have the problem solved. Yet -- and this is what sets mystery lovers apart -- nothing thrills them more than when the mystery defeats them, and when they turn the last page they find a surprise waiting, something they missed. Once again, mystery lovers get no less than forty shots at the fun of winning or losing, in a set of wildly different stories. Every mystery in the book is set up for the reader to solve. At the end of each mystery there is a question: Who did...' or What did...' or It seems the thief made a mistake. How could...' Like that. There's a great variety. The settings range from city to country, from soccer field to jungle, and from a bookseller's convention to a theater stage to a Crimean battlefield. There are pickpockets, murderers, con men, and various other crooked characters. You'll encounter veteran detectives, medical examiners, special agents, a game warden and crime-scene investigators. There's also a variety in the level of challenge. As you turn the pages of Five-minute Mysteries 3, you'll notice one, two or three symbols -- a dagger -- at the beginning of each story. The number of daggers suggests how easy or difficult the mystery is, one being easy, two being a little harder, and three, difficult. (Or, perhaps more accurately, how easy or difficult each one seems to me.) But don't let the ratings stop you from enjoying all the mysteries! One that I rate "difficult" might be an open-and-shut case for you, while you might be utterly stumped by one that I've rated "easy." Try them all. Finally, all the solutions are at the back of the book, so you can prove you're a winner or, once in a while, get a kick out of losing. Either way, enjoy.Ken Weber is the author of 'Five-Minute Mysteries 3: Another 40 Cases of Murder and Mayhem for You to Solve' with ISBN 9781552978641 and ISBN 1552978648.