Marten Coombe

This book was published in 1998 and I immediately bought two copies - one for me and one for my mother: shortly after that my daughter was given a copy and my mother's best friend also bought one. I'm pretty useless at puzzles but mummy usually cracks them pretty quickly.

Months later though none of us were any further forward. In the end we all felt frustrated and, given the statement that this 'children's book' could be solved by a determined child, pretty stupid. The story itself was not up to much - the puzzle was the only reason we lept returning to the wretched book.

Over a decade later I am relieved to learn that NO ONE solved the puzzle. The money prize was donated to the World Wildlife Fund while the where-abouts of the treasures [wand, bracelet, oak chest etc etc] is in itself a mystery...

A so-called children's book containing a puzzle so hard that no-one is able to solve it rather defeats the purpose [entertainment, satisfaction] and since, as I mentioned before, the story is weak, this Merlin Mystery is remarkable only for its illustratations - which are decent, but hardly outstanding.… (mehr)