OK, Google has gotten me nowhere (mostly because of the vagueness of my memories), so, seeing a thread elsewhere that reminded me of this, I thought I’d try to see if I could get a SD miracle here:
I remember, from my childhood, a childrens’ mystery book. Each left-hand page was text describing a mini-mystery (ending with the question you were supposed to answer), and the right-hand page was an illustration that would help you answer said question. (Actual example: “How did character X know that the comb they found in a previous page didn’t belong to the man they were questioning?” Looking at the picture shows the man is bald.) The protagonists were a group of mystery-solving kids.
The first few lines of the next left-hand page would give the solution. There was an ongoing narrative (three ongoing narratives, actually) - the mysteries/questions would be steps that followed this narrative.
Looking back on it, from what I remember, I got the impression that the book was translated from a European (non-English, of course) language. I believe it might be German or a Fennoscandian language, but I can’t be sure.
The Black Hand Gang! I haven’t checked but I imagine my link’s the same as Mops. I had to post though because I never know the answers to these questions and now I do because I used to LOVE these books when I was little!
ETA: Yeah, not quite the same, but close. Still, yay! and thank you for reminding me. I’ll read them again next time I go home.
The Dope is freaking awesome. That SO looks like what I remember. I’ll have to confirm, but at least I have an avenue to pursue! (If anyone ever thinks of others, please post!)
If so, this is SO going in my nephews’ library for when they reach that age. Hopefully, it’ll instill the same love of puzzles and mysteries that I have.