Five-Minute Whodunits

by Stan Smith, Lucy Corvino (Illustrations)

Accompany Thomas Stanwick as he hears about a crime, arrives on the scene, interviews the authorities and witnesses, examines the body, surveys the surroundings, and announces which suspect to arrest. All under 5 minutes. You'll be right there with him for dozens of different crime scenes, and if it takes you less than five minutes to bust the case open, consider yourself a match for the brilliant Stanwick. 96 pages, 40 b/w illus., 5 3/8 x 8 1/4.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Puzzles, Chapter Books

96 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 1997

About the author

Librarian Note: There are several authors in the database with this name. This is Stan^^Smith. For other authors with this name see: Stan^Smith, Stan^^^Smith, Stan^^^^Smith, Stan^^^^^Smith, Stan^^^^^^Smith, Stan^^^^^^^Smith, Stan^^^^^^^^Smith, Stan^^^^^^^^^Smith, Stan^^^^^^^^^^Smith, Stan^^^^^^^^^^^Smith, and Stan^^^^^^^^^^^^Smith.

Stan^^Smith has written whodunits and puzzles.

Reviews

[Nicole]

I took a long of time reading this because it was so short I wanted it to last, more than a crime-solving puzzle it was more of a word puzzle in which you had to guess the inconsistencies of what a witnesses told you, determine people who were lying or guess according to certain data which were the culprits.

This book was really entertaining for me even when I was expecting full fledged mystery cases. they are quite short, to the point and a nice way to entertain myself when I had time or in-between breaks.

[Charles]

Approximately two pages of text and an illustration of one-half a page are all that the reader is given regarding a puzzling situation, almost always a crime. In some cases, the presentation is in the form of a logic puzzle, where there are a small number of people, and you are given specific characteristics about them. By applying that data, it is always possible to discern the answer, as is usually the case with such puzzles, the answer is obvious after the fact.
Some of the mysteries are solved by recognizing the one key fact in the description. Since there are few facts in the description, this type is generally easier to solve than those where you must go through and eliminate scenarios.
This is a book that will challenge your powers of logical deduction. Generally speaking, it is better to only read and solve a few at each setting. For me, after two or three, the urge to peek ahead at the solution became very strong.

[Mayda]

Charming illustrations abound in this mystery book. Many of the cases are really logic puzzles, and it’s a great way to introduce kids to this way of reasoning. With three or more suspects, readers have bits of information from all the suspects, and you must coordinate the facts to see where the truth lies. Some are pretty difficult; others just require some prior knowledge and careful reading. It’s a lot of fun for kids and adults, especially if you match wits with another person.

[Kirsten Simkiss]

Eh. It was okay. A lot of word puzzles as opposed to solid searching for clues in misinformation. A lot of it had to do with towns where some people were boldly lying and others were telling the truth but you didn't know which was which. That's not so much a mystery as it is a word puzzle.

[Kevin Magpoc]

I did like how all of the mini-mysteries are linked with a regular character, amateur logistician Thomas P. Stanwick.
I did not care for how often the author tells the reader that Thomas "fingered his mustache."

[Leilani Wilson]

I liked some of the puzzles, but others didn't make any sense to my brain.

[Teresa]

This was well-written and clever - it’s just that the majority of mysteries in the book are the “figure out who was the driver, the shooter, the lookout” type mysteries, which aren’t my favorite.

[Beth Kaminske]

Some of these didn’t have enough facts to come to a conclusion without making assumptions.

[Katherine]

READ THEM!
THEY ARE VERY TRICKYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

[Taylor]

These were a ton of fun! I remember doing some of these in elementary school and they were a hoot! I recommend this for anyone really!

[Leo]

Read in Spanish.

[Sia]

Fun book. Different from my normal reads, but its always fun to read something different.