Solve Your Own Mystery: The Transylvanian Express by Gareth P. Jones

Title: Solve Your Own Mystery: The Transylvanian Express

Author: Gareth P. Jones

Genre: Mystery, Detective, Fantasy, Supernatural

Publisher: Walker Books Australia

Published: 4^th October 2023

Format: Paperback

Pages: 224

Price: $16.99

Synopsis: One puzzling mystery. Several slippery suspects. Endless possibilities!

Welcome to Haventry, a town where the ordinary and extraordinary collide! With ghosts, werewolves and zombies living side by side, trouble is always brewing. And when a fiendish crime is committed, YOU are the detective in charge of the case.

All aboard the Transylvanian Express! YOU and your yeti boss Klaus are headed to Castle Ursprung, home of the infamous vampire Count Fledermaus. But before you get there, you have a mystery to solve: Night Mayor Franklefink has vanished from the train.

Someone on board must have played a role in his disappearance, but who has the strongest motive? Could it be Franklefink’s archnemesis Bramwell Stoker? Or is Sandra Rigmarole, elf District Governor and colleague of the Night Mayor, a more likely suspect? Or perhaps Franklefink’s monster wife has suddenly turned against him? YOU decide!

~*~

Many people have experienced a choose your own adventure novel of some sort. Where the main character is the reader, so the books are written in second person, and everyone starts with the first chapter, and from there, you follow the clues and prompts to find out who committed the crimes – whichever path you follow will give you a satisfying result and everyone survives in this book. Yep, no random deaths after following a couple of prompts, so your adventure and mystery lasts a while in this book. It is part of a series – you’re an ordinary human working with a yeti detective boss in Haventry. Here, everything ordinary and extraordinary collide and you get to interact with werewolves and zombies, vampires, mummies, and ghosts and many more.

This time, you’re on the Transylvanian Express with your yeti boss, Klaus, and on your way to Castle Ursprung to spend time with Count Fledermaus, an infamous vampire. But being a detective working with Klaus, trouble seems to follow you everywhere and you’re pulled into a case. Night Mayor Franklefink has gone missing during the journey – and now, everyone, including Bramwell Stoker, his archnemesis to the mayor’s colleague Sandra Rigmarole is a suspect. Who is? Well, dear reader, this is where you get to play your part. Following the prompts and choosing which path to take will lead you down a variety of paths and through a range of clues and paths to solve the mystery and work out who committed the crime – and your decisions will unveil who it is.  

 I loved that each turn took you somewhere you were not expecting. When I first picked the book up, I wasn’t aware that was the aim of the book until I started reading and came to my first crossroads decision. And for me, it was the kind of book I read in one sitting because I was getting so into the mystery, and it is the kind of book that you can read several times and go on a different journey to find out who is behind the disappearance because you can take different paths each time, so I am looking forward to trying out a different pathway when I read it again.

These sorts of books are fun and creative – a different kind of reading experience that encourages creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving, and for me, I loved how all the typical horror and mythological characters were used in new and fun ways. Not too scary, but spooky enough for this book. I think it is part of a series, so it would be fun to see what the other mysteries are like at some stage. A fun book and I hope to read more soon.