A "mystery" involving the theft of jeweled numbers from the face of a "cursed" clock. the acuthor actually hid 12 jeweled numbers in various locations in the US, with clues in the book's illustrations, and many of them have been found (see internet sites).
The story itself is pretty bad, and the illustrations are cluttered and incongruous, probably due to having to hide the clues to the location of the treasures.
Now that the numbers are found, it is pretty much a dead letter. ( )

The Clock without a Face by Gus Twintig (Scott Teplin, Mac Barnett, and illustrator Eli Horowitz) showed up on the new shelf in the children's library a few months ago. Attracted by the odd shape and the detailed cover illustration, I checked out the book. Rather, I attempted to check out the book but the odd shape made it impossible for the self-service scanner. So after standing in line to talk to the circulation desk I was finally able to take the book home.

Although this is a thirty page board book, I wouldn't classify it as a children's book. It's really more of a graphic novel or adult novelty book.

A detective and his assistant are called to a strange apartment building where on the top floor Bevel Ternky's emerald studded clock has been stolen. Not only that but everyone else in the building is missing something.

Floor by floor the detective gathers clues and interviews residents. By the time he arrives at the bottom floor he knows what happened and he asks the readers to see if they know too.

The book ends up being two puzzles in one. There are the crimes of the other floors and then the emerald numbers. The numbers are an actual marketing gimmick and there were twelve sites across the United States where actual treasure was buried based on clues in the book.

I personally have no interest in trying to solve the remaining unsolved riddles. Once all of them have been found (and they may have by now) the book becomes just that, a book. I doubt it will have lasting appeal without the treasure hunt. ( )

This book was far more elaborate than I expected. I like puzzles and mysteries, and read this thinking it was a kids book with an observational puzzle and at the end it would tell you the answer. As I learned afterward in searching the internet, this book is the first step in a real-life quest to locate 12 objects hidden across the country. The story in the book is just the starting point. I finished the book, but didn't even begin the actual quest.

I can only imagine how much work went into creating this puzzle book. It is very tempting to just get completely sucked into this for the next couple months, but I'm willing to bet that none of the actual treasures are in Alaska. I do look forward to following the various websites that I have sprung up with all sorts of deducing going on. It makes me want to pick up the book everytime I read about a new hunch someone has.
I also just like the level of detail in the book's drawings. The clues make the drawings fun to stare at. I hope that eventually when everything is solved and all the numbers have been found, the writers and illustrators will do some interviews or something and discuss the creative process for this project. ( )