The first full week of October is Mystery Series Week, a week where we celebrate all the mystery series that we just can’t stop coming back to time and again. Mysteries are such a great genre of surprisingly comforting whodunnits, even with all the murder and what have you. This week, it’s time to give you another Novel Novel Mystery (which is now its own series, since I’m making a second one!) by looking at some books from big mysteries series. See if you can’t find the hidden connection. Like last time, no knowledge of the books in question is required, and doing some research online or in the library is fair game (though it shouldn't be necessary for this particular puzzle). Let’s see if you can’t find the solution!
In Plain Sight by C.J. Box
Here’s a long-running mystery series, starring Joe Pickett, Game Warden and Mystery Solver! Joe Picket has had 24 novels as of this writing, with a bunch of short stories and stuff besides. He even had his own TV series for about two seasons, so that’s a pretty good track record, I would think! This particular book deals with the disappearance of someone named Opal Scarlett, which is a name I think very fitting to this particular puzzle!
Depraved Heart by Patricia Cornwell
Dr. Kay Scarpetta, mystery solver and coroner, is another sleuth with quite a long and storied history with 27 main novels under her belt, with another having just hit shelves around when this goes up! My favorite factoid about Scarpetta is that she has her own cookbook for reasons completely beyond me. It’s available here in the library! Unfortunately, Food to Die For: Secrets from Kay Scarpetta’s Kitchen doesn't fit into this puzzle, so I can’t include it. Doesn’t mean you can’t do some cooking with it though.
Blueberry Muffin Murder by Joanne Fluke
Can you imagine that there was a time where murder mysteries didn’t come with delicious recipes? They used to be in a totally different book, like Scarpetta’s cookbook mentioned before. But now, of course, we have Hannah Swensen, cookie shop owner and mystery solver, putting some baking recipes right in there for you to munch on while you enjoy a cozy mystery. Of course, if the 30 or so mysteries didn’t have enough recipes in there for you, there is a cookbook with more as well. Sadly, much like Food to Die For, Joanne Fluke’s Lake Eden Cookbook doesn’t fit into this puzzle, but still, that’s two tie-in cookbooks so far! Think we can find some more?
Eleven On Top by Janet Evanovich
Stephanie Plum is everyone’s favorite bumbling bounty hunter and, of course, mystery solver. Sadly, she doesn’t seem to have an official tie-in cookbook, which is a real unfortunate thing in my opinion, but she is about to go on her 31st official mystery this year, not counting a few “between the numbers” stories as well. In this book, Stephanie quits bounty hunting. Well, she might get back into it though, if the other 20 books are any indication.
Killing Moon by Jo Nesbo
Harry Hole, Oslo police detective and mystery solver, hasn’t had the best of luck in adaptations. The film adaptation of The Snowman really didn’t fare too well, sadly. But Harry hasn’t let that get him down. Killing Moon is his most recent, and 13th, mystery! No cookbook here either, but did you know that Jo Nesbo also wrote a series for kids called Doctor Proctor’s Fart Powder? Sadly, we don’t seem to have any of this series in the building, but it's available for us to get for you through Missouri Evergreen, and I really wanted to type Doctor Proctor’s Fart Powder, so I did. The book wouldn’t even fit into this puzzle! But it’s called Doctor Proctor’s Fart Powder! Can you blame me?
Cat's Eyewitness by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown
The only book on our list by two authors, and one a cat no less! Does Sneaky Pie Brown have the most New York Time best-sellers a cat has ever had? I’m not sure, but she’s surely in the running. Similarly, Mrs. Murphy is a cat, mystery solver, and star of 32 novels! Of course, one of them was about a bid to elect the cat author to the presidency, and not the cat presidency, like the normal presidency, so maybe there was less of a mystery in that one. Not sure if you’d count it.
Judgement Prey by John Sandford
Lucas Davenport has done so much mystery solving that his subordinate, Virgil Flowers, and his daughter, Letty Davenport, have had to take on mysteries of their own! That’s a lot of mysteries! And even with that, Lucas, war games designer and mystery solver, has had 34 novels worth of investigations. That’s got to be impressive, right? Much like the victim in our first entry, this book’s murder of Alex Sand and his sons feels very appropriate to this puzzle. How? Well, that’s what you’re trying to figure out, isn’t it?
A Delicate Touch by Stuart Woods
Of all the long-running mystery solvers here, Stone Barrington, attorney and mystery solver, has probably been the longest running. He’s managed 65 novels of mystery! This one is number 48, right in the middle end of the series. The blurb about the plot says it involves “societal minefields”! A beautiful phrase. Of course, I could have picked a different Stone Barrington novel, as there’s a few others that would have fit this puzzle! But then I wouldn’t have gotten to type “societal minefields,” so I made my choice.
Have you figured out the connection? If you guessed that it’s that every novel involved Mystery Solvers, then congrats! You’re correct! But that’s not the answer to the puzzle, so you’ll have to keep searching. Good luck!
Click Here To See The Solution!