The Puzzling World of Winston Breen

Both my puzzle-loving sons (aged 10 and 7) have loved this book and found it to be a captivating pageturner!

I just finished reading the three books in the "The Puzzling World of Winston Breen" series, by Eric Berlin. They are nominally "Young Adult" books, but as an "Older Adult" , I still enjoyed them a lot. They remind me just a little of the Encyclopedia Brown books, in that the main character is an expert that is called upon by both kids and adults, though in this case he needs to solve actual puzzles, not just mysteries. Each book is a single story that leads the characters through many puzzles. The writing is good, and the puzzles are well-constructed. Some are easy, and others took me a while. There are a wide variety, and in the course of the books the characters discuss both how to solve different puzzles and how to construct new ones. You can tell that Eric is an experienced puzzler/puzzle constructor. I highly recommend them as an introduction to puzzling for any young adults you may know, and you may enjoy them yourself, too.

Enjoyed reading it with my daughter very much. She had previously read "The Potato Chip Puzzles" (book 2) and wanted me to read it. When I noted that there was one before it, we grabbed this first. The puzzles to solve along the way are compelling. We had fun trying to outguess the plot (yes, the plot turns into a bit of a puzzle as well) and figure out who the bad guys are along the way.

My 11-year old LOVED this book! He stayed up till midnight reading it! The puzzles were tricky enough to make him think a bit (he usually rips through them), but no too hard. He was challenged, but not discouraged. He loves Encyclopedia Brown, Friday Barnes, cryptography and logic puzzles. He is eagerly plunging into the second book in the series and I am so glad to have found another series that engages him.

Its a mystery novel, and there are many interesting puzzles in this book, so I think it is a great book.

Amusing and entertaining. Much better than the average book aimed at this age group.

This was a good book I should have read this one before I read the potato chip puzzle When I read the potato chip puzzle I read that there was a arrival about Winston finding lost treasure so I knew that they found the ring. I was surprised that Zack dilmed and Brenda turned on Winston and Katie so fast and Zack wanted the ring for himself

I like this book because you don't really have to read the first book to get the second. The book had such a twist at the end, I thought Brenda was nice