Mystery Hotel. Puzzle Mysteries Collection
December 1961. Now an old man, Nino recounts to his granddaughter Clara an extraordinary night from his childhood, when he was eleven years old and helping his uncle Piero and aunt Ada at the modest Hotel Mimosa in the small spa town of Z***. Once famous during the Belle Époque for its casino and thermal baths, the town has long since lost its glamour, but on that winter evening the hotel is unusually lively because of the patron saint’s celebration.
An unexpected motorway accident brings four extraordinary guests to the hotel: the celebrated Scottish crime writer and detective Niles McEnroe, the sharp and formidable Miss Tingley, the tough Italian-American private investigator Sam Cicogna, and the mysterious medium Madame Kapuzinsky, all returning from an international investigators’ conference in Milan. To young Nino, they seem like figures stepped straight out of the detective novels he devours.
Late that evening, while passing near a long-abandoned smoking room, Nino and the four investigators glimpse something shocking: a stout man in a tailcoat slumped motionless in an armchair, a red stain visible at the corner of his mouth. He appears unmistakably dead.
When they return moments later to investigate, the room is empty. The man has vanished. From that moment on, each detective launches a secret investigation, carefully observing the guests gathered in the dining room and collecting clues without consulting the others. Convinced that a crime has taken place, they each construct an elaborate explanation for the mysterious disappearance.
Four detectives. Four brilliant theories. Each theory is ingenious, theatrical, and entirely persuasive. By the end of the evening the four detectives proudly present their deductions, each certain they alone have solved the case. The reality, however, proves far simpler.
Mystery Hotel is the first book 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.
By the same author or illustrator
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Sherlock, Lupin and Me. Book 18: Deadly Trap for Mr. Holmes
A trap in Hyde Park, Holmes behind bars, and one last deadly game staged in Moriarty’s shadow. London, December 1919. A mysterious invitation draws Mila to Hyde Park, where what should have been a clarifying meeting turns into an ambush. Billy Gutsby is kidnapped, Mila barely escapes capture, and within hours the unthinkable happens: Sherlock Holmes is arrested after being…
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Sherlock, Lupin and Me. Book 17: Crime at Christmas
A snowbound Christmas inn, a dead guest under the same roof, and a theatrical revenge plot hidden beneath holly, cocoa and old English charm. Mayfield, England, 1919. Hoping to give Sherlock Holmes and Arsène Lupin an unforgettable English Christmas, Irene takes Mila, Billy Gutsby and the two old friends to the King’s White Horse, a cosy country inn in the…
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Sherlock, Lupin and Me. Book 16: The Assassin’s Mask
A glamorous seaside holiday, a corpse dressed as a pirate, and a murder plot hidden behind wealth, romance and theatrical deception. Torquay, 1919. Mila arrives on the Devon coast hoping for a few peaceful days by the sea, but her holiday is quickly overshadowed by death. While Harold Grayling and his dazzling fiancée, Lady Cecilia Hagbury-Winch, prepare a lavish masked…
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Sherlock, Lupin and Me. Book 15: The Top-hat Man Enigma
A dead princess’s final clue, invisible writing on blank pages, and a race across Europe to stop a chemical weapon from falling into the wrong hands London, 1919. Mila is still reeling from Anastasia’s death in Danzig when Sherlock Holmes begins to study the objects her sister died protecting: a hexagonal key and a note bearing the number 734 090.…
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Sherlock, Lupin and Me. Book 14: Searching for Anastasia
A funeral in London, a missing Romanov princess, and a mission that reunites three legends for one last impossible rescue. London, 1919. At Dr Watson’s funeral, Irene Adler seeks out Sherlock Holmes and Arsène Lupin after nearly fifty years apart. She needs their help to protect her adopted daughter Mila, whose true identity places her at the heart of one…
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Sherlock, Lupin and Me. Book 13: Double Ending
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Sherlock, Lupin and Me. Book 12: The Ship of Goodbyes
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Sherlock, Lupin and Me. Book 11: The Port of Deception
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Sherlock, Lupin and Me. Book 10: The Lord of Crime
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Sherlock, Lupin and Me. Book 9: Murder at the Fox Hunt
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Sherlock, Lupin and Me. Book 8: The Sphinx of Hyde Park
A scholar found dead in a sarcophagus, a chain of secrets reaching back to Egypt, and a revenge plot buried for years beneath academic glory. Just days before Christmas 1871, London is gripped by the shocking death of Gideon Hawthorne, director of the British Museum, found suffocated inside an Egyptian sarcophagus. What at first looks like a sensational “curse of…
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Sherlock, Lupin and Me. Book 7: The Mystery of the King Cobra
A vanished butler, a robbery at the London docks, and a mystery that reaches from Victorian London to the shadows of colonial India. Back in London with her father and still trying to rebuild her life after the tragedy in Paris, Irene Adler hopes for a quieter future. Instead, a sudden shock unsettles the fragile calm of her new home:…
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Sherlock, Lupin and Me. Book 6: The Shadows of the Seine
A missing cousin, a gang war on the Seine, and a case that drags the trio into the most dangerous corners of Paris. Back in Paris for a brief return to ordinary life, Irene Adler is overjoyed to be reunited with Sherlock Holmes and Arsène Lupin. But their happy reunion is short-lived. When Arsène’s idealistic cousin Fabien d’Andrésy vanishes after…
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Sherlock, Lupin and Me. Book 5: The Ice Castle
A false naturalist, a white castle in the Alps, and a mystery built on disguises, spies and shifting identities. Still shaken by the discovery of her true origins, Irene Adler travels to Davos, in the Swiss Alps, to meet her real mother, Alexandra Sophie von Klemnitz. But before she can find any real peace, Sherlock Holmes and Arsène Lupin are…
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Sherlock, Lupin and Me. Book 4: The Cathedral of Fear
A mysterious warning, a torn map, and a secret society hidden beneath Paris. When Irene Adler is forced to leave London for the Norman countryside, she expects only boredom and silence. Instead, a mysterious woman approaches her with a cryptic warning about her mother and entrusts her with a hidden packet containing part of an ancient map. Reunited with Arsène…
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Murder on the Occident Express. Puzzle Mysteries Collection
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Sherlock, Lupin and Me. Book 2: Last Act at the Opera House
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Sherlock, Lupin and Me. The Black Queen’s Trio
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Mysteries of Summer
Six mysteries. One season where mystery never takes a break. Six original summer stories by Italian acclaimed authors. A girl haunted by a ghost who might be herself. A cursed necklace passed from hand to hand. A school trip gone terrifyingly wrong… Each tale is a standalone mystery—spine-chilling, elegant, or surreal—set in the inescapable heat of the Italian summer. A fresh,…
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Uncle Cringe
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Save the World – Vol.4: No More Food Waste
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Save the World – Vol.3: Let’s Save Energy!
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Save the World – Vol.2: Zero Plastic
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Save the World – Vol.1: Mind the Climate
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Ghost Agency – Vol.3: The Skyscraper Ghost
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Ghost Agency – Vol.2: A Fearfully Frightening Family!
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Ghost Agency – Vol.1: Good Job, Will Moogley!
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Maud West, Lady Detective vol.1 – A Matryoshka of Mysteries
She’s a mistress of disguise with the acumen of Miss Marple, the resourcefulness of Enola Holmes and a helper who always gets into trouble. It’s Maud West, the first real lady detective who ever lived. London, October 1920. Maud West and her young assistant Max Finch have just solved an intricate investigation and are preparing to celebrate with a nice…
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Maud West, Lady Detective vol.3 – A Labyrinth of Mirrors
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Maud West, Lady Detective vol.2 – A Cathedral of Cobwebs
She’s a mistress of disguise with the acumen of Miss Marple, the resourcefulness of Enola Holmes and a helper who always gets into trouble. It’s Maud West, the first real lady detective who ever lived. Boasting his new cap, Finch invites Maggie to the cinema. But romantic gestures are not her thing… better to dive into Maud West’s new assignment.…
