Wednesday, 10 November 2010

The Mystery Of The Dead Man’s Riddle

Dingo Towne, a local character, has died and instead of a regular will, he’s set a series of riddles, with the winner taking his fortune. Hired by Dingo’s daughter-in-law to try and solve the riddles, the boys have to compete with nasty English relatives, Skinny Norris and treasure hunters. A very sturdy mystery, well constructed with clever clues, this is a cracking adventure, with good action, nifty set pieces (the river boat and climax especially) and a lot of different locations in and around Rocky Beach. It also has a very winning character in Billy Towne, Dingo’s 8 year old nephew, who is well written and good fun. One of the series highlights, very much recommended.

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12 comments:

  1. Anonymous7 December 2010 at 15:28

    Along with Moaning Cave, this was William Arden's finest hour in T3I series. Rhyming Slang, brilliant characters (the Percivals, Mr. Savo & Turk), a solid plot and a great finish... this tale had it all. Ten out of ten.
    Robert

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  2. Throatwobbler14 March 2012 at 12:08

    Loved this since the age of 13, in English. I just found it in Swedish (really good translated riddles) in an "used book"-shop. This would make a great movie, a "Da Vinci Code" for kids.

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  3. Mark West14 March 2012 at 12:11

    Absolutely - have you seen the TTI films that have already been released?

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    Replies
    1. Savvas Tzionhs1 July 2017 at 16:33

      What?!! When?!

      Delete
    2. Mark West2 July 2017 at 11:44

      There's two, from Germany a few years back, neither of which seem to be based particularly faithfully on the books.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous19 July 2015 at 20:48

    love it, one of the best

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  5. Anonymous15 August 2015 at 18:39

    One of the best, reminds me of "stuttering parrot"

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  6. Savvas Tzionhs1 July 2017 at 16:36

    Loved it! As an Australian I had to read an American novel to discover 'Rhyming Slang'!

    This was the one book that I was able to visualise more then any other.

    And was this the most prolific Skinny Norris story?

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    Replies
    1. Mark West2 July 2017 at 11:44

      I think it was, yes.

      And how cool, to discover that Australian kids enjoyed the series as much as Brit kids (and US ones too!).

      Delete
  7. Blistering Barnacles2 February 2018 at 10:09

    Plenty of Indian kids too. Dead Man's Riddle was the first 3TI book that I bought, in 1981. It was the Armada paperback with the houseboat on the cover. The first book in the series that I read (and got me hooked) was Stuttering Parrot.

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  8. Anonymous14 May 2021 at 06:12

    Of the twelve non Robert Arthur novels,this is the one seems to be closest him in style and plot structure. Though Arden/Lynds used the treasure hunt riddles in three other stories the clues seem more Arthur like for some reason.

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