Welcome to Willouby is a classic mystery and riddle. Like all riddles, on first reading, in the dark and the deep, the “answer” may be invisible. It’s there. But it must be found. Or Uncovered.

A game of Clue, I wrote with specific solutions to the four main questions: Who Did It, Who Is It, How, and Why Was it Done?

The first word in Willouby is a single letter, “I.” The first sentence, “I saw Jacob Maymerry on the day he moved to Willouby.” The first two mysteries of the book:

Who is “I” ?

Where was “I” when they saw him?

By the end of Chapter One, “I” disappears, like a Cheshire Cat, and Jacob starts his journey to uncover the meaning of his basement find.

Now that some readers have finished the story, I’ve enjoyed conversations where I can share more clues, themes, ideas, and word games woven into the tale.

Anyone who happens upon a second reading may find passages appear in a new light. And the “right” answer might suddenly seem so obvious it was shocking that you missed it the first time.

Or maybe not. I suppose the only thing I can never know for very sure is what’s inside another’s mind

For those who’ve asked, here are three more clues to help explain my real meaning. But is the “right” answer what the author believes, or the reader?

Question #1 – WHO DID IT?

(1) I ended the story with a letter, and a name, in tribute to my first favorite puzzle box mystery, Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None.” That’s a clue.

(2) The golf rake is a giveaway. It’s mentioned on the Monday Jacob moves in, Thursday, and Sunday morning.

(3) Chapter 9 – “The only bright spot was finding something on his office floor that he hadn’t even remembered packing. It was a cheap, reusable writing gadget that he knew well from childhood. He had no idea what it was called, but was sure that every dollar store must still stock them. With a simple plastic sheet atop cardboard square and a little plastic nib—endless information could be written down, and then with a flip of the sheet, erased again for new ideas.”

Was that left for Jacob? Who would do that? When? Does anyone know what those are actually called?

More Soon.

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