Calling all sleuths! We’ve got a library mystery on our hands! Below I’ve put together a list of seven books for you to peruse. But here’s the twist: They’re connected by a secret theme. Can you determine what that theme is? Here’s a hint to get you started: you don’t need to have read the books listed below to find the theme.
We clearly need to start out our mystery with a mystery, and what better than with classic girl sleuth Nancy Drew? The Secret of the Old Clock was Nancy’s first mystery. Did you know it was rewritten in 1953 by Harriet Stratemeyer Adams to bring it up to a more acceptable cultural standard of the time? If you’ve read this classic before, there might be a version out there that you didn’t even know about!
Clancy has written quite a lot of novels, and books keep being published in his name, even after his passing, but it all started right here. The Hunt for the Red October is his first novel, and one that introduced us to Jack Ryan, a character so popular he even has his own TV show. This Cold War Era thriller is still one of the cornerstones of the genre.
Neuromancer was William Gibson’s first novel and the first to win the sci-fi “triple crown” of a Hugo, a Nebula, and a Phillip K. Dick award. There's a good reason for that! The novel basically established cyberpunk as a genre of science fiction, which is used in all sorts of media today.
Few things are more engaging for kids than looking through I Spy’s colorful, dense photographs and finding all the objects hidden in their riddles. This edition of I Spy is themed around the circus, with animals, clowns, and balloons galore! So why not grab your kids and get together for a game of I Spy? After you’ve solved this mystery, anyway.
One of Agatha Christie’s most famous mysteries, did you know this novel had to be renamed twice? The original title was quite offensive! And then the title they changed it to was eventually considered to be in extremely poor taste as well. So now we have this title, as the book has been known since 1985. No matter its name, though, the inherent mystery is still quite the problem to wrap your head around.
Stephen King, who has been known in interviews to call himself America’s Schlockmeister, is an institution at this point. The Dark Half is a novel written while he was getting over his problems with addiction, and focuses on an author who is a struggling alcoholic and his “pen name” persona. It was adapted into a movie in 1993 by none other than George Romero of Night of the Living Dead fame.
Our final book is a book about everyone’s favorite expert in the made-up field of symbology, Robert Langdon. The Da Vinci Code, of course, involves Langdon trying to unravel a mystery involving the church, Leonardo Da Vinci, and a secret society. But did you know that (fictional) Langdon is quite the (fictional) author himself, having written several (not real) books such as The Art of the Illuminati: Part 1, and Symbols of the Lost Sacred Feminine? I bet Langdon could figure out the solution to this mystery pretty quickly!
Have you figured it out? Research isn't cheating. In fact, I recommend it! So look into this mystery, and dig in! And when you think you've solved it, or you're sufficiently stumped, click the link below for the answer.