You Are the Detective: The Creeping Hand Murder

Hardcover (Paper-over-Board, no jacket)
$19.99 US
| $26.99 CAN
On sale Sep 16, 2025 | 128 Pages | 9780593836019
November 1933. London. Seven people receive mysterious letters. Someone knows their terrible secrets. They are summoned to a posh townhouse where one is stabbed right in front of the others, but somehow no one saw a thing. Can you help Scotland Yard solve the mystery?

An interactive murder mystery from the bestselling author and illustrator of Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village


Dear Detective,

Surely you have seen the papers and read about the murder of the American novelist Roy Peterson—stabbed while in a room with six other people, and yet no one went near him or saw the murder occur. The crime is so devious, so logistically impossible, that it seems to have been committed not by a person but by a disembodied hand.

I must confess that we are at a loss. Who wrote the poison pen letters that lured these seven people to this deadly gathering? What do a poet, an Earl, an actress, a cook, a telephone operator, and a lothario have in common? And how can a man be stabbed in a room full of suspects when none of them could have done it?

We have had our best people on the case, Detective, and we still can’t make heads or tails of it. We are giving this case file to you. Can you decipher the clues, decode the witness statements, and identify the murderer? You are our last hope. Can you help us crack the Case of the Creeping Hand?

Yours truly,

Detective Chief Inspector of the Metropolitan Police
Maureen Johnson is the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of many young adult novels, including the very murderous Shades of London series and the Stevie Bell mysteries: Truly Devious, The Vanishing Stair, The Hand on the Wall, and The Box in the Woods. She has also done collaborative works, such as Let It Snow with John Green and Lauren Myracle (now a movie on Netflix), and several books in the Shadowhunter universe with Cassandra Clare. Her books have been translated into more than thirty-five languages. View titles by Maureen Johnson
Jay Cooper’s books don’t normally include grisly murders, nefarious deeds, or corpses of any kind. He has written and/or illustrated more than twenty books for kids, including The Spy Next Door, The Pepper Party, and the Bots series, and has contributed work to the New York Times bestselling series The Last Kids on Earth. Currently he is illustrating a graphic novel entitled Super Atomic Wombat Girl. He’s also a graphic designer of theatrical advertising, and has worked on more than a hundred Broadway musicals and plays (which have heaps of deaths). Visit him at jaycooperbooks.com or follow him on Twitter @jaycooperart. View titles by Jay Cooper

About

November 1933. London. Seven people receive mysterious letters. Someone knows their terrible secrets. They are summoned to a posh townhouse where one is stabbed right in front of the others, but somehow no one saw a thing. Can you help Scotland Yard solve the mystery?

An interactive murder mystery from the bestselling author and illustrator of Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village


Dear Detective,

Surely you have seen the papers and read about the murder of the American novelist Roy Peterson—stabbed while in a room with six other people, and yet no one went near him or saw the murder occur. The crime is so devious, so logistically impossible, that it seems to have been committed not by a person but by a disembodied hand.

I must confess that we are at a loss. Who wrote the poison pen letters that lured these seven people to this deadly gathering? What do a poet, an Earl, an actress, a cook, a telephone operator, and a lothario have in common? And how can a man be stabbed in a room full of suspects when none of them could have done it?

We have had our best people on the case, Detective, and we still can’t make heads or tails of it. We are giving this case file to you. Can you decipher the clues, decode the witness statements, and identify the murderer? You are our last hope. Can you help us crack the Case of the Creeping Hand?

Yours truly,

Detective Chief Inspector of the Metropolitan Police

Author

Maureen Johnson is the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of many young adult novels, including the very murderous Shades of London series and the Stevie Bell mysteries: Truly Devious, The Vanishing Stair, The Hand on the Wall, and The Box in the Woods. She has also done collaborative works, such as Let It Snow with John Green and Lauren Myracle (now a movie on Netflix), and several books in the Shadowhunter universe with Cassandra Clare. Her books have been translated into more than thirty-five languages. View titles by Maureen Johnson
Jay Cooper’s books don’t normally include grisly murders, nefarious deeds, or corpses of any kind. He has written and/or illustrated more than twenty books for kids, including The Spy Next Door, The Pepper Party, and the Bots series, and has contributed work to the New York Times bestselling series The Last Kids on Earth. Currently he is illustrating a graphic novel entitled Super Atomic Wombat Girl. He’s also a graphic designer of theatrical advertising, and has worked on more than a hundred Broadway musicals and plays (which have heaps of deaths). Visit him at jaycooperbooks.com or follow him on Twitter @jaycooperart. View titles by Jay Cooper