# Reccomend "2 minute mystery" stories **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [July 3, 2021, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-2-minute-mystery-stories/945619 "2021-07-03T18:47:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CardboardBoxx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardboardboxx/32/7079_2.png) [@CardboardBoxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CardboardBoxx)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2021, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-2-minute-mystery-stories/945619/1 "2021-07-03T18:47:07Z")
Anybody got any recommendations for more recent books that are compilations of short solvable mysteries, similar to Asimov’s “Black Widowers”?. Ideally each story should be readable in 10 minutes and contain all the information the reader needs to solve it. Preferably there should be a point, (like where they give up and ask Henry in the BW) that signals to the reader that this is the point they need to have solved it by. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2021, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-2-minute-mystery-stories/945619/2 "2021-07-03T22:09:53Z")
Why “2 minute mysteries” when it takes 10 minutes to read them? ---
**Author:** ![CardboardBoxx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardboardboxx/32/7079_2.png) [@CardboardBoxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CardboardBoxx)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2021, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-2-minute-mystery-stories/945619/3 "2021-07-03T22:19:07Z")
I started with the title which sounded catchier, but I used scare quotes, then put 10 minutes in the main text, it could possibly be a little longer. But really any set of short mysteries that follow the “give all the clues and then you solve it” format in short form. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2021, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-2-minute-mystery-stories/945619/4 "2021-07-03T23:24:13Z")
Well, at least you solved the 10 minute, “2 minute mysteries” mystery. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2021, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-2-minute-mystery-stories/945619/5 "2021-07-03T23:55:21Z")
[Don’t let the “juvenile” characterization of the titles scare you away.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_J._Sobol#Selected_bibliography) Sorry they’re not more recent. ---
**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-2-minute-mystery-stories/945619/6 "2021-07-04T00:18:41Z")
The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe is a short read. The only story of his three C.Auguste Dupin mysteries I enjoyed. [http://xroads.virginia.edu/~Hyper/POE/purloine.html](http://xroads.virginia.edu/~Hyper/POE/purloine.html) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-2-minute-mystery-stories/945619/7 "2021-07-04T00:39:39Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Well, at least you solved the 10 minute, “2 minute mysteries” mystery. Actually, @kaylasdad99’s link in the post below yours may solve the mystery of where “two-minute mysteries” comes from. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2021, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reccomend-2-minute-mystery-stories/945619/8 "2021-07-08T07:24:04Z")
@CardboardBoxx I loved the Two Minute Mysteries books as a kid. As I recall, these were pretty good for their time. Solved by _Dr_. _Haledjian_, which I had to guess at for pronunciation when I was a fifth grader. Asimov also had the [Union Club Mysteries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Union_Club_Mysteries), which were almost identical in form to the Black Widowers. Slightly longer stories, but [Edward G. Hoch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_D._Hoch) wrote a ton of short detective stories, many of them locked room mysteries. They are easy to pick up in short story collections or omnibus books. And, TIL his last name is pronounced _Hoke_ rather than _Hock_ as I have pronounced it for the last few decades. And last but not least, [John Dickson Carr](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dickson_Carr), often said to be the best locked room writer of all times.