I am trying to recall the title / author of an illustrated children's
mystery book (possibly a series) that I remember reading as a child.
Unfortunately, I do not know the author, the title, the publisher, or
the year of publication.
Here are the, hopefully, useful details that I remember about the book:
1. It was an illustrated mystery novel targeted to children / young adults.
2. The book was in paperback, in short novel form, and *may* have been
offered through the Scholastic Book Service here isn the U.S., in
which case it would have been sold in the 70's or 80's (the time I was
in elementary / middle school.)
3. The general plot involved a small group of kids solving crimes or
mysteries using their keen senses of observation. There were only
three or four main characters at most.
4. The illustrations, which occured every few pages (or possibly every
other page?,) were extremely detailed and complex pen and ink drawings
of scenes which held some hidden clue directly relevant to the story.
The hidden clue was then revealed early in the text on the next page.
For example, the last line of text on a page facing an illustration
may have read, "Look, the man with the checked pants is getting into a
cab! Remember that cab number!" The illustration would then be of a
very detailed city street scene with many cars and cabs and people
getting in or out of them (a la "Where's Waldo,") but only one cab
customer would be wearing "checked pants." And the text on the page
following the illustration would start off something like, "Write down
that number, then man with the checked pants got into cab number
'CGX-1741,'" hence, revealing the visual clue.
5. The writer, the stories, or at least the illustrator, was from
England or Europe. Most of the illustrations were obviously set in
urban England or Europe circa the 60's or 70's. (Crowded Victorian /
Tudor style buildings on small urban / suburban streets, 60's era
English cars and clothes, decidely European license plates on the
cars, etc.)
I greatly enjoyed the book, and think I had only one, but it may have
been part of a series. I would guess that this is probably out of
print, but any information you can come up with would be great. Based
on the limited information I have given, I would bet that the only
people able to answer this question are those who have seen or read
the book(s) themselves. The best comparison I can make is that these
are a text-based, mystery version of "Where's Waldo?" Each of the
illustrations had some small hidden detail (not necessarily a person)
that was part of the story. (Another specific example that I remember
from the book: Smoke coming out of the chimney on a supposedly empty
building tips the kids off that someone is there.)
Thanks, in advance! |
