Category Archives: Unsolved

359J: Private Investigator Has Bad Luck With Pulp Fiction Publisher

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Looking for metafictional short story that’s an homage to classic noir (probably published in the last 10 years or so) in which a PI is hired by a pulp fiction publisher to write stories. I think the PI only deals with a woman (secretary?) at first, they pay him a lot of money for his writing, and then maybe he eventually meets the publisher and there’s a twist ending that goes poorly for the PI. The tone was winkingly hardboiled (first-person narrator like classic PI stories). I have exhausted every possible Google keyword variation I can think of, and am just hoping someone in your network may have read this! I seem to think it was in a short story collection with different authors doing takes on mystery stories (similar to an anthology called Tiny Crimes), but could be wrong about that.

359F: Early 90’s Humorous Horror Children’s Book

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I imagine this will be one of the more difficult ones for you simply due to my lack of information. This was a childhood book of mine that had to have been published in the late 80’s-early 90’s.  It was a series of 10-12 short stories accompanied by cartoon-ish illustrations focused around a punk kid getting into all sorts of spooky and weird situations.   Unfortunately, at the time I couldn’t read, so all I have are memories of the illustrations and some themes of one or two of the stories. The illustration of the kid was the early 90’s typical baggy jeans, backwards ball cap, long (I think) blonde hair. The cover of the book was of this kid spray painting some graffiti on a brick wall. I think whatever he was spray painting was the title of the book.
A few of the memories I have of the stories include one where the kid gets sucked down a drain and another where the kid has no bones. I’m pretty sure there were a few stories where he encounters monsters as well.
Thanks for your help! My brother and I have spent years trying to find this book!

359D: Fiction, long-lost sisters with celebrity dad, Ireland/USA

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This is a contemporary realistic fiction book. A celebrity man dies and is on the news, and somehow his daughter in the USA finds out he has another daughter in Ireland, or vice versa. The sisters meet. The Irish sister has a cheating husband who eventually seduces the American sister. The American sister later has a summer fling with a 17-year old, the ex-boyfriend of her niece (or something like that). I read it in 2010 and am guessing it was less than 10 years old at the time. The book is light green (or at least, the version I read was). I have a picture of me reading it, but when zoomed in it is way too grainy to decipher any info at all.

359B: Ghost Themed Activity Book (Maybe Disney?)

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There’s a book that I got some time around 1993. It’s a light-hearted ghost themed activity/picture book. One important detail is that there were hidden messages in the book that one could read via the included red decoder that you’d hold up to your eye. It was essentially a red translucent film.
The book was mostly illustrations, maybe with some jokes and mazes thrown in.
The book MAY be a Disney publication as I associate it with Disney. But, as my brother pointed out, that might be because I had the book with me while we were on our trip to Disney in the early 90s. Still, it’s also possible that we got the book while at Disney World.

359A: 90’s Satanic Panic Teen Romance

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This was most likely purchased from a Scholastic Book Fair in the mid to late 90s. I don’t remember the title but I think the cover was dark blue with an image on the front but I can’t remember what of. Something vague like two shadows or a book with a pentagram on it. It is a short book. Probably around 150 pages. Could be Middle Grade or Young Adult.
Details I’m pretty sure of: The story was about a teen girl who moves to a new town and gets a crush on a dark, mysterious guy. He brings her into a group of friends that seem cool and goth but end up being a satanic cult that sacrifices a cat in a dark cave. She is eventually saved by a love interest.
Details I’m unsure of: Vaguely supernatural elements as in things happen that seem magical but may not be. I think there is a scene where she escapes through the basement of a restaurant. Towards the end we learn that she moved to this town because her parents died and the parent’s dying was orchestrated by the cult. Maybe the leader of the cult is revealed to be The Devil. Maybe because we see flames in his eyes or some other devilish detail. There might be drugs involved. There might be an element where the protagonist thinks people have been killed but then they are found alive.
Thank you for the help! This has been bothering me for YEARS.

358Z: Ghost book about a brother and sister with a good twist ending

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The book is about this brother and sister that wake up in their beds and discover they have woken up in their house but older looking without anyone able to see or hear them. They go on to help these ghosts living in their house against their evil aunt, who can occasionally sense the main characters. I remember a small joke about the little brother not knowing what a minor was and mistook it for a miner in an inheritance letter or something. In the end (spoilers) it is discovered that the main characters were ghosts all along and died falling into a frozen lake together and the Evil Aunt just liked vintage furniture.
Also posted onto reddit here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/whatsthatbook/comments/orc7yv/ghost_story_book_with_a_good_twist_at_the_end/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share