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The Overdue Book
The Overdue Book

The Card Out of Place

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Chapter 6 of 10

A library keeps two histories: the books, and the cards that remember them. The catalog drawers run the front hall, brass pulls and ivory labels, and Ruth, refiling, finds the first edition's card one drawer east of home, behind FEN when it belongs behind FIR. On the card, in the neat accession hand of 1912: provenance, donor, binding notes, and the small penciled cross that means see also the memorial register. The register lives under the desk, a tall ledger of gifts. The first edition was given by Edmund Fensham the year the library opened, in memory, the line says, of an unnamed friend. Ruth reads that twice. A man who put his name on the building put none on his rarest gift. Whoever pulled the card read all this too, and refiled it wrong, working fast, by lamplight perhaps.

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About this case

A chapter of The Overdue Book, a mystery told in word searches. Each chapter leaves you one clue; the finale needs them all.

How a mystery chapter works

  1. 1
    Read the scene first.Every chapter opens with a scene from the case. The word list is drawn from it, and so is the clue.
  2. 2
    Find the words.Tap a word's first letter, then tap along to its last, or press and drag. Found words colour themselves in and cross off the list.
  3. 3
    One listed word is not in the grid.Find the other nine and the word left over is the chapter's clue. Note it down, or let the case page keep it for you.
  4. 4
    The finale needs every clue.The last puzzle's word list is the clues you collected, and once you find them all, the leftover letters spell out who did it, and why.

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Print The Overdue Book as one large-print booklet: every chapter and its puzzle, a clue ledger, and the ending sealed on the last page.

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