Murder in the Mirror. Puzzle Mysteries Collection

Fourteen-year-old Tobias owns almost nothing in the world: a battered green jacket, oversized boots, and an extraordinary talent for repairing clocks. When he answers an advertisement for a clockmender at the Zeigermann Institute, a remote boarding school perched high in the Alps, he expects a simple job fixing timepieces. Instead, he finds himself entering a strange and unsettling world.

The institute is a labyrinthine castle filled with hundreds of mechanical clocks that tick, chime and ring at all hours. Founded by the eccentric clock collector Cornelius Zeigermann, the school follows rigid rules and an obsessive devotion to time. Tobias is hired as the institute’s new Master of Time, responsible for maintaining the vast collection of clocks that governs the life of the school. But from the moment he arrives, something feels wrong. The corridors are full of secrets, the atmosphere is tense, and Tobias has the constant impression that someone — or something — is watching him.

One night, a student named Sibille is brutally attacked in the Mirror Room, struck in the face with a heavy bronze mirror. The evidence seems undeniable: Sibille is dead. But moments later, Tobias sees her alive.

If Sibille is alive… who was murdered? Suspicion quickly falls on Tobias himself. His past is far from spotless, and his presence at the school already raises doubts among the staff. With no allies and little time, Tobias must investigate the crime on his own.

Murder in the Mirror is part of the Puzzle Mysteries series, a highly engaging middle-grade collection (age 10+), created by a remarkable group of acclaimed Italian authors from the Book on a Tree collective. Each stand-alone novel is a brilliantly constructed interactive puzzle that reinvents the classic whodunit with fresh, contemporary twists. With no supernatural shortcuts, every mystery is solved through logic, deduction, and sharp observation. Readers are treated as real detectives, invited to gather clues, untangle deceptions, and solve the case alongside unconventional young protagonists. From gothic Alpine boarding schools and isolated islands to luxury trains and high-pressure contemporary concerts, each book offers a distinctive setting and a fresh angle on the genre. In this series, every clue matters — and every reader becomes the detective.