Mystery Read-Alouds

We are coming to the end of our mystery unit. You’ve done a great job listening, thinking and jotting about the:

  • crime solvers
  • suspects
  • clues
  • red herrings
  • favorite/surprising parts

I am wondering, which read aloud did you like better? Absent Author or The Diamond Mystery. Why? Make sure you write details to explain your answer.

86 thoughts on “Mystery Read-Alouds

  1. KC November 20, 2017 / 2:11 pm

    I liked The Absent Author more because it was harder to guess the mystery. It was harder to guess the mystery because it had more red herrings, or misdirections than The Diamond Mystery.
    The Diamond Mystery was a little easy to guess because there were only three suspects and one of them (Luke Smith) was caught doing a lot of suspicious stuff like picking up the apple by the sewer and he kept getting new expensive stuff.
    In The Absent Author, nobody could of guessed it. We were getting new suspects on every page! Only JK noticed the clues on Mavis Green. Most people were not sure.
    That’s why I thought The Absent Author was better.

    • TJ November 20, 2017 / 2:42 pm

      I liked yours because you were really pesific like when you said (Luke Smith) was caught doing a lot of suspicious stuff like picking up the apple by the sewer and he kept getting new expensive stuff.

    • FM November 20, 2017 / 2:46 pm

      I think your comment was awesome because where you said”In the absent author, nobody could have guessed it,” I was surprised!

    • JH November 27, 2017 / 2:06 pm

      CK, I agree with you because it was harder to guess and had more suspects

    • JB November 27, 2017 / 2:08 pm

      I disagree because the Absent Author was way to hard to solve. It was basically impossible!

      • KC December 1, 2017 / 10:07 am

        That is why I think it is more fun because if a mystery is too easy to guess it isn’t fun. Then there is no point in reading the book.

    • RH November 27, 2017 / 2:10 pm

      I disagree with KC because I think that the Absent Author is not as good as The Diamond Mystery because it did not have more red herrings. It actually had more suspects.

      • KC November 27, 2017 / 2:15 pm

        RH if it has more suspects than it is harder to guess which I said and also even if it doesn’t have more red herrings it has bigger red herrings.

      • KC December 1, 2017 / 10:10 am

        RH and all those suspects were red herrings because when Maurine HIggins said she didn’t know Wallis Wallace was famous, it seemed she was lying but she wasn’t. And Mr. Linkletter was so secretive and so you think he might have done it. But those were all red herrings so that’s why there are more red herrings.

      • CR December 1, 2017 / 10:14 am

        RH, I disagree with you because I think the Absent Author had a lot more suspects.

        • JB December 1, 2017 / 10:24 am

          Yeah I disagree too, CR.

    • RG December 1, 2017 / 10:14 am

      I disagree with you about the red herrings in the absent author but I still think your comment was really specific because you used a lot of examples from the book like when you said (Luke Smith) was caught doing a lot of suspishous stuff.

    • jk December 1, 2017 / 10:28 am

      I agree it only had 3 suspectes they were Luke, Vivian and Danny so it was a 33.33 chance to guess it, but in Absent Author everybody was a susspectes also thats for fee back KC

  2. RG November 20, 2017 / 2:12 pm

    like The Absent Author because of the ending, Mavis Green was actually Wallice Wallas and I think I would have liked it better If they picked one really popular real author because then I would be really interested because I would really want to find out what happens to the author and in The Diamond Mystery it was really mysterious because who would think that an employee would steal a diamond from the store where he works? Also because there were all those red herrings and it really led me in the wrong direction like the knife and when Vivian was eavesdropping on Mahamed Carat and Jerry and Maya.

    • JB November 27, 2017 / 2:09 pm

      I know Isn’t Vivian so nosy?

    • EA November 27, 2017 / 2:19 pm

      RG, I like your comment because you used very good vocabulary like when you said “mysterious”, employee” and “eavesdropping”. I like it also because you added lots of details about both books you did not just say why you liked The Diamond Mystery.

    • SM November 27, 2017 / 2:20 pm

      RG I agree. Who would of guessed an employee would of stole the diamonds? The red herrings also throw me of. I thought it was Danny Brave heart because of the red herrings.I was so surprised that Wallice Wallis was a girl. I like the words you used in the comment like eavesdropping.

      • RL December 1, 2017 / 10:09 am

        I would have never guessed, SM.

    • RH December 1, 2017 / 10:19 am

      RG I think your comment was really good because of the way you said what you thought and why you thought it. Even though I think The Diamond Mystery is better I think you had a really good comment.

  3. TJ November 20, 2017 / 2:13 pm

    I think the diamond mystery because it was funny and the person who stole it was who Mr.Carat guest who stole the diamonds it was the last suspect. The funny part was when Luke Smith try to get the apple out of the bottom of the table I never would have guessed the ending. It was the best mystery book I ever read.I think the red harrens were not at all ovius.

    • JRa November 20, 2017 / 2:51 pm

      I agree with you because not all red herrings are ovious.

    • RG December 1, 2017 / 10:21 am

      I agree with you that The Diamond Mystery is better and that it was really funny when Luke Smith tried to get the apple out of the bottom of the table.

    • SM December 1, 2017 / 10:28 am

      I agree TJ that the Diamond Mystery is better . I also thought it was funny . The red herrings were all over but nobody noticed them , but some people were on the right track though .

  4. EA November 20, 2017 / 2:13 pm

    I liked “The Diamond Mystery” better because I liked the red herrings. For example the big knife in Danny’s drawer. Also how Vivian kissed the customer and had a really fancy necklace.
    I also liked the ending because it was unpredictable the way Luke put the diamond in the apple and put it down the drainpipe and pretended to tie his shoe.That is why I like “The Diamond Mystery.”

    • RG November 20, 2017 / 2:43 pm

      I agree with you about the ending. It was really unpredictable. The red herrings were hard to believe that they weran’t something important to solve the mystery.

    • KC November 20, 2017 / 2:48 pm

      I disagree because it wasn’t so hard to guess the mystery because Luke Smith was doing some weird stuff so it wasn’t so hard to guess.

    • JB December 1, 2017 / 10:11 am

      I know EA, the red herrings are pretty hard but I still had a feeling that Luke Smith did it.

  5. JB November 20, 2017 / 2:14 pm

    I think Diamond Mysteries is Better than the Absent Author because it is easier to solve. It also has pictures one of them gave away the mystery. I also love the suspects. They are so funny.
    I like it because the mystery solvers are smarter. And I like the clues. They are so obvious!
    Also Absent Author was not an actual mystery. There was no real crime!`

    • RH December 1, 2017 / 10:13 am

      I think The Diamond Mystery was also easier to solve but I don’t like for that reason. I Disagree with you JB, that the clues were obvious.

    • IX December 1, 2017 / 10:19 am

      J B I disagree with you because the harder to solve the funner!

  6. JH November 20, 2017 / 2:15 pm

    I think Absent Author is better because there were more suspects and they gave so many clues that no one noticed
    They always starting to Zip around different places and the answer was right in front of them
    They made you think the answer was obvious but it was the opposite and I thought it was funny when mr.linkletter said “we have rules at Shangri- La “

    • JB November 20, 2017 / 2:44 pm

      I know Mr. Linkletter is so funny and mysterious!

      • RH December 1, 2017 / 10:26 am

        JB, I disagree with you because Mr. Linkletter is not funny. I do think he is mysterious.

    • RH November 20, 2017 / 2:45 pm

      I think that you made The Absent Author sound like a great book. For example when you said that Mr. Linkletter said “we have rules at shangri -la.”.

    • GF November 20, 2017 / 2:48 pm

      I like that you used the text evidencd.

    • RG November 20, 2017 / 2:49 pm

      I agree that it was hilarious when Mr. Linkletter said”we have rules at the Shangri – La.

    • KC November 20, 2017 / 2:50 pm

      I agree that is was funny when Mr. Linkletter said that and it was also funny when he said “It’s almost checkout time”. I also agree that they made you think it was obvious.

    • FM December 1, 2017 / 10:27 am

      I disagree because in The Diamond Mystery, there were less suspects, but more red herrings. Is’nt it harder to guess???

  7. RH November 20, 2017 / 2:15 pm

    I think that The Diamond Mystery is better because I liked the way that Jerry and Maya made everything a clue and everyone a suspect. Like when they made the guy Vivian kissed and Vivian suspects.
    I also like The Diamond Mystery better because of all of the red herrings. I like the red herring when Jerry and Maya saw Danny with the gaming sheets and tickets it really threw me off. It made me think that it was a clue but it had nothing to do with the end of the book!
    The Absent Author was also good but I think that it was the kind of book where it did not give a lot of clues which was really confusing because it kinda just gave you the answer to the mystery.

    • RG November 27, 2017 / 2:17 pm

      I disagree that The diomand Mystery didn’t give us alot of clues because I could think of lots of clues.

    • JB December 1, 2017 / 10:15 am

      I know RH it was pretty easy to but I still like it better than The Absent Author.

    • EA December 1, 2017 / 10:16 am

      RH, I like your comment because I like how you used sentences from the book. For example, you wrote “Jerry and Maya made everyone a suspect and everything is a clue.”

    • FM December 1, 2017 / 10:21 am

      I agree because The Absent Author kinda was the” really lot of clues” kind of book. But the diamond mystery was the”red herrings throw me crazy” kind of book.

  8. jk November 20, 2017 / 2:16 pm

    I like the Absent author better be somebody spoiled it. He Diamond Mystery ending and we all knew who did it and it was oveis but it was still awesome but it was a little worst, but it was still good. The Absent Author was good. One good reason is it had good red herrings like mr paskey was a swety mess. Because usaly suppects are nurvese but it turned out that Wallis Wallace did not get kidnapped he faked it

    • FM November 27, 2017 / 2:09 pm

      I disagree because in The Absent Author, Mavis Green was eavesdropping on Dink which I thought was obvious. In The Diamond Mystery, red herrings threw me off like crazy.

  9. SM November 20, 2017 / 2:17 pm

    I liked the Diamond Mystery because it was hard to figure out the suspect, for example Vivian was poor so she would have stole the diamonds . It also could have been Danny because he does not like the owner. It also could of been Luke because his office drawers were locked.
    Another reason is it will make you think more. Like a clue was the apple that was not there. Another clue was Luke was going near the post office with something that could of been the diamonds

    • JB November 20, 2017 / 2:48 pm

      It is so obvious that Luke Smith did it.

      • KC November 27, 2017 / 2:12 pm

        I agree with you JB because Like Smith has the most suspicious stuff on his criminal record, or what he did that was suspicious.

    • RH November 20, 2017 / 2:51 pm

      I think that The Diamond Mystery was better. I like the way you showed Vivian’s motive.

      • RL November 27, 2017 / 2:19 pm

        I agree RH.

    • RL November 27, 2017 / 2:16 pm

      I agree SM, good comment.

    • EA December 1, 2017 / 10:26 am

      I agree with you, SM. Vivian is so poor it was almost obvious it was her. In the start of the book I thought she stole the diamonds.

  10. FM November 20, 2017 / 2:37 pm

    I think the mystery The diamond mystery is better than The Absent author because in the book, Jerry and Maya, the whodunit mystery club,solved a really hard case.

    In the part that Jerry saw Luke Smith pick up something, i thought that was suspicious because after they put the clues together, Luke Smith actually was hiding diamonds in the apple and hiding the apples in a lock box in the post office which i thought was funny.Also,Luke Smith bought a sports car when he said he was rich, he sold the diamonds!!! Another reason is that it had a lot of red herrings, for example, when Vivian, a employee,kissed a man on the nose, was a BIG red herring.

    That’s why I like the diamond mystery better.

    • KC November 27, 2017 / 2:08 pm

      I agree that they solved a hard case FM, but didn’t Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose also solve a case that was most likely harder? I think this because there were definitely more red herrings in The Absent Author than The Diamond Mystery like the whole kidnapping thing was a HUGE red herring and even Mavis Green’s letter was a red herring. Even a person, Mavis Green was a red herring.

    • TJ December 1, 2017 / 10:17 am

      I agree with you F.M because it was really hard to guess because there were so many red herrings like the knife in Danny Braveheart had.

  11. gf November 20, 2017 / 2:38 pm

    I think Dimed Mystery is very good because it has a lot red herring are when there are little clues and you remember them at the end . because in the book Vivian kissed a man on the nose and I thought that she did it.but then I thought what did that have to do with that.

  12. JRa November 20, 2017 / 2:39 pm

    I liked the diamond mystery better because it had a really good mystery and i would not have figured it out. My favorite character was Miya because she was the one who mostly was snooping around while jerry was stuck in the watchtower looking for this jukuziebird. The author did not give out many clues and their were many red herrings. Red herrings are a sentence that would throw you of the trail. That is why I like The Diamond Mystery better than the Absent Author.

    • FM November 20, 2017 / 2:49 pm

      I think your comment was awesome because where you said”i would not have figured it out,” I could not to!!!

    • KC December 1, 2017 / 10:16 am

      Dear JRA I disagree because Luke Smith was doing a lot of more bad stuff than everyone else but your comment is really good because when you said “I like Maya better because she was snooping around while Jerry was stuck in the watchtower looking for this jukuziebird.”.

  13. GM November 20, 2017 / 2:41 pm

    I like the Absent Author because it had more people, also it was more entresting. The Dimond Mystory I think was obveyos that __________ did it.

    • JRa December 1, 2017 / 10:14 am

      Do you mean Luke Smith GM?

    • KC December 1, 2017 / 10:20 am

      GM why did you use this: __________ if we all know who did it?

    • JH December 1, 2017 / 10:27 am

      I agree with you it was really ovious that ____________ did it it didn’t really make sence for it to be anyone else

  14. JRo November 20, 2017 / 2:41 pm

    I liked the diamond mystery better because it had a really good people who could of done the crime. I liked how they found out who did the crime. I liked better because it had really good ending and it was really instering and had really good parts. I was thinking the part when Vivian kissed the old man.

    • RG November 27, 2017 / 2:13 pm

      I agree that The Diomand Mystery is better and I also agree that the ending was really interesting.

    • FM November 27, 2017 / 2:14 pm

      I agree with you JRo because the red herrings were not as obvious as The Absent Author.

  15. IJ November 20, 2017 / 2:42 pm

    I liked the Diamond mystery better. 1st reason is how at the end of the mystery because they said Luke smith an the apple because it and me laugh a little.I thought it was a little funny that Vivian kissed the elderly man and thought it was him because Vivian could be giving the diamonds to him.

    • JRa November 27, 2017 / 2:20 pm

      I J, I agree because Vivian could of been giving the man diamonds but she didn’t. At first I though Vivian Luke and Danny were on a team but they weren’t. I was really confusing but I still though it was an Awesome Book!

  16. RL November 20, 2017 / 2:45 pm

    I liked the absent author better because in the diamond mystery it was easy to slove because of the picture.

    • RL December 1, 2017 / 10:22 am

      I agree so much that it was easy to solve, RL!

  17. DS November 20, 2017 / 2:46 pm

    I think I liked the absent author best because in the Diamond mystery, the crime was really obvious because the author gave too many details about Luke Smith so it wasn’t so fun. On the other hand I never guessed the ending for the absent author because the author did not give to many clues.Also Jerry and Maya were so good that they gave everything away.

    • FM December 1, 2017 / 10:15 am

      I disagree because did Jerry and Maya not solve a hard case? They took a whole day when Dink and his crew took half a day,that represents that Dink is better, right?

    • JRa December 1, 2017 / 10:33 am

      I disagree because The Diamond Mystery was hard to figure out for me.

  18. JH November 20, 2017 / 2:47 pm

    I really like how you said what you like even though I dissagree. Nice comment.

    • TJ November 27, 2017 / 2:15 pm

      I disagree with DS because they barely gave any information like they did not tell us what he said about the horses.

      • KC December 1, 2017 / 10:27 am

        TJ they did tell us when Luke got his new car he said “This baby has 360 horsepower!” and Danny muttered “You only need 1 horsepower if you choose the right one.” when Mr. Karat told Jerry and Maya.

  19. jk November 27, 2017 / 2:12 pm

    We both know who did it well me and you and the rest of our class. It was ____________.

  20. JRo November 27, 2017 / 2:15 pm

    Jh I agree that it was funny that when Mr. Linkletter said we have rules in the Shangrila.

  21. CR November 27, 2017 / 2:16 pm

    I liked Absent Author better because it was a little more interesting for me. I also thought that the ending was a little better because it was a lot more surprising and funny I was amazed when Ruth Rose solved it I thought Dink was going to solve it. I was also surprised when Mavis green was Wallis Wallace! I think the Diamond Mystery was very easy to solve because there was only three suspects and they gave a lot of clues.

  22. FM November 27, 2017 / 2:17 pm

    I agree with you JRo because the red herrings were not as obvious as The Absent Author.

  23. IX November 27, 2017 / 2:19 pm

    I think that the Absent Author is better because in every page there was a new suspect and it was so hard to figure it out. Because I thought that Wallis Wallace was a boy and the Diamond Mystery there were only three suspects and the Author gave too many details about Luke Smith and how did he buy a so expensive car and in the Absent Author they didn’t tell so many things about Mavis Green.

    • JB December 1, 2017 / 10:21 am

      I disagree IX, they told so many comments about Mavis Green. Like that Wallace Wallis likes green, and there were a bunch more.

  24. MS December 1, 2017 / 10:08 am

    My favorite book was the Absent Author because it made me feel like I was about to shout out the answer.
    Another reason is the book was interesting and even funny!
    My final reason is the is the book was so sensitive about the trouble but, it was actually a scene.
    Those were all my reasons about the book, I hope you got convinced!

  25. JH December 1, 2017 / 10:18 am

    I agree, who would guess that Mavis Green would actually be Wallice Walice even though they gave so much clues.

  26. JR December 1, 2017 / 10:20 am

    I agree that it was harder to guess the Absent Athour KC.

  27. MS December 1, 2017 / 10:34 am

    I agree with you JRO because the Whodunit book was too obvious and the Absent Author was slightly better but the Jacuzzi Stork was kind of funny and I never knew that MG was WW!

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