Little Mysteries by Sara Gran is a collection of short stories that all have different mysteries to them. Most of the were inspired by classic whodunnit style stories and some of them feel more original.

I have loved books by this author so when I saw it available to request, I was on it! I didn’t know that this would lean a lot more on the cozy side so that was a surprise. I found this to be a mostly endearing little collection that I had a good time with but it wasn’t anything super impactful.

I can see why some readers would love this and I know exactly who I would recommend this to so I don’t think it is any way a bad book, just not exactly my thing. I do think the eARC was hard to read because of the way the story telling was done so I encourage anyone picking this up to try the physical book.

I love short story collections. Usually, I read them before novels. I haven't read any previous books by Sara Gran. This book was interesting book, filled with stories of mystery and quirky characters. I enjoyed this, but found my mind wondering as I tried to focus on the stories. Not a bad book, but not for me.

Little Mysteries: Nine Miniature Puzzles to Confuse, Enthrall, and Delight is a short story collection which ponder on the human experience and life's little mysteries. Lovely to dip into for a short thrill!

I haven't read any of Sara Gran's books before so was blind to who Claire DeWitt was. But I didn't need background to enjoy the book. I'll certainly be looking for more of her books in the future.

I'm not understanding how this is anything to do with a book of mystery puzzles? Am i reading the same copy as everybody else...Literally re-read the description 5 times and im still confused.
At any rate, this was not for me and im not even sure where to begin with all the Warnings over: Language, Drugs, Vulgarity.
Apologies for grabbing this ARC thinking it was something that it was not. (a book of mystery puzzles)

“Some days it feels like people just exist to break your heart, and other days and other people exist just to pour salt in the open flesh; sometimes it feels like entire months, years, whole decades exist just to hurt us like it’s their fucking hobby.”

Little Mysteries: Nine Miniature Puzzles to Confuse, Enthrall, and Delight is a short story collection that only Sara Gran could pull off. Ugh, I am not normally a short story kind of gal, but I ate this collection up in two days flat!

This series touched on so much of what it is to be human and to live a life worth living. For these stories being a bit quirky, there is so much depth hidden in these pages. I really love how there are overarching themes that pull the stories into one cohesive piece of work even if they don’t necessarily all contain the same characters.

This is one of those books where I feel like I cannot put the magic into words, but you just need to live it! Thank you to @netgalley for the advanced copy of this beautiful collection in return for an honest review. This book releases on 2/11/25 and you don’t want to miss it!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

This was a unique collection of short stories, some of which I really enjoyed, some of which I think either went over my head or just didn't capture me.

This is a clever, unusual and nostalgia fueled little collection of curiously charming vignettes that seem to ultimately reveal deeper reflections on life.

There is a focus on a handful of characters from Gran's previous work, and though I am unfamiliar with them, I was delighted to get to know them in these brief encounters. I went in anticipating a mix of puzzle-like mysteries and whodunnits, but instead was met with a series of simple but smart stories exploring the meaning and mysteries behind life, all wrapped up with a charming bow of solving crime with observant and intelligent characters not unlike Poirot and Marple.

A fun little romp that I would especially recommend to those who enjoyed Gran’s previous novels of the same nature.

Little Mysteries is a collection of mystery stories of various lengths. While there are two central detectives, Claire DeWitt and Cynthia Silverton, the stories don’t follow any typical mystery conventions. The last major story, The Mystery at Killington Manor or The Feeling of Seeing Clear Blue Sky After Being Lost in the Woods, is by far the most engaging and satisfying mystery of the bunch.

The other mysteries were a lot darker than I anticipated - more drug use, alcoholism, and homelessness. But they were easy reads, and the last story really made this worth reading.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamland Books, and Sara Gran for the advanced reader copy!

Little Mysteries delivers a collection of miniature detective stories that veer far from Gran's usual dark territory. Featuring her recurring character Claire DeWitt, a teen detective named Cynthia Silverton, and a 1949 manor house mystery, these tales focus more on existential questions and character studies than traditional whodunits. While I admired the craft and ambition, as someone who loved the gritty darkness of Gran's other work (particularly Come Closer and The Book of the Most Precious Substance), this cozy, philosophical take wasn't quite what I was hoping for.

Little Mysteries has the subtitle "nine miniature puzzles to confuse, enthrall and delight." With the exception of "confuse," every word in this title is a lie. There are twelve items listed in the table of contents. One is a "psychospiritual divination tool", which is unusable even if one is willing to cut a page out of the book, an option unavailable to anyone reading in Adobe or any other digital format. The rest are not mysteries and few of them are either enthralling or delightful.
The Claire DeWitt stories are irritating as they consist of the mental ramblings of the self proclaimed ;world's greatest detective. The Cynthia Silverton ("teen detective") episodes are, if possible, even worse. There is little detection going on anywhere in these stories and I hated both main characters. If the author's dedication to Donald Sobel (Encyclopedia Brown series) R.A. Montgomery (Choose Your Own Adventure series) and "Carolyn Keene" (Nancy Drew series) had appeared at the beginning of this book instead of the end, I might have understood what she was doing and saved myself some time.
I didn't mind reading The Case of the Blood on the Snow because it is a story told to Claire, rather than one in which she participates, about a nun and a homeless prostitute. I also liked The Mystery at Killington Manor because it told an interesting, if improbable, story from the perspective of a bright sixteen-year-old named Poppy Killington-Wade. It was hardly a mystery and the ending would be unlikely in the real world, but I might read a book about this character if it existed. My two star rating was earned by these two stories.
Almost nineteen years ago, I read a terrifying horror novel called Closer. I was so impressed by it that I went on to read three other books by the author, Sara Gran. All three (Dope, The Book of the Most Precious Substance, and Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead) disappointed me in different ways. I took a chance on Little Mysteries because it was free so I had nothing to lose but a few hours. I am very glad I didn't spend actual money or make a trip to the library to borrow this book. I would recommend Come Closer, which is, in its own way, as good as The Haunting of Hill House or Carrie, but I doubt I will ever bother reading another book by Sara Gran.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Dreamland Books for the free advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I have truly never read anything like this. Part literary mysterty, part choose your own adventure - everything about this memorable and special.

I had high hopes for this, but there was just too much going on. The pages with split time line were annoying to read. The choose different paths also was too much going on. I get where she was going with it but not just for me. I get the whole teen detective thing but it seemed a bit elaborate.

I love Sara Gran's novels, but this was my first experience with "difficult" detective Claire DeWitt, and her long-suffering assistant Claude. I loved this collection of weird little puzzles, as well as the longer, more heartfelt stories.

A particular favorite was The Good Smell of New York City / The Ocean-Salted Air - A really innovative short story, with two timelines literally running in parallel. DeWitt features in both timelines, one set against the AIDS epidemic, the other the COVID crisis.

Little Mysteries definitely inspired me to seek out more of Gran's DeWitt novels.

Loved this set of short stories, a really nice few hours spent reading them and I’m hoping to read more like this.

I enjoy reading (Golden Age) mysteries and this collection of short stories challenges the reader to solve the mystery.
I have never read such a mystery collection before.
(I myself subscribe to a Logicgram puzzle book. You fill in the grid according to the clues to solve them.) l These short stories have kept me reading and puzzling for hours!

At times I had the feeling that I had stepped into a game of Professor Layton, where the reader has to solve the puzzle in short stories.
This is the first time I have ever read a collection of short stories like this. I really enjoyed being introduced to it.
Recommended! 4 stars

ALWAYS AN PRESURE TO READ A THRILLER - ALTHOUGH NOT THE BEST WAS KINDA PREDICTABL;E BUT WAS A FUN READ AND SHALL RECOMMEN

This is a truly surprising collection of little lit fic mysteries that provoke a wide variety of emotions and really pack a punch for their length!

{Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eArc!}

This is clever little book of short stories that have a true golden age crime feel to them, with a choose your adventure type feel making a good fresh combo. Fully immersive for the readers but sometimes a little too obvious would have liked more clues etc for the reader to investigate themselves. But it's good clever little book that would make a great stocking filler for any arm chair detectives in your life

3.25 stars

This book of short stories contains nine mysteries with inspiration from Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew, Choose Your Own Adventure books, and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. I wouldn’t say that they are puzzles, per se, as the subtitle suggests.

The Case of the Mysterious Dr. Crowley: Read like Encyclopedia Brown but was nearly impossible to solve with the provided information although the author did provide the solution.

The Mystery of the Mycelial Net: Assistant detective Claude gets his big case to figure out who has found out about his aunt Helena’s affair, interesting distinction between solving a crime and a mystery, not sure how he figured it out.

The Good Smell of New York City: interesting format of two separate columns down page - 1988 (HIV) and 2020 (Covid). Carmen saves Claire from a drug overdose in 1988 despite the risk of HIV, and then Claire saves Carmen in 2020 despite the risk of Covid.

The Case of the Jewel in the Lotus: I liked this one but not my favorite.

The Case of the Razor’s Edge Between Life and Death: Claire talked with a suicidal woman at a Chinese restaurant. She picked up on several clues about the woman’s state from the solution.

The Case of the Blood on the Snow: This one was decent.

Choose Your Own Heartbreak: Choose your own adventure while taking on bad guy Hal Overton. I think I’m too old to read choose your own adventure books.

Cynthia Silverton and the Charnel House Grounds: ode to Nancy Drew with a twist

The Mystery at Killington Manor: I think this is adapted from A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder with protagonist Poppy trying to figure out who killed her great grandmother Mrs. Kitty with the help of her great grandmother’s friend Aunt Julia. I liked this story the best, and fortunately it was the longest story of the bunch. I really recommend this story in particular.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. It publishes February 25, 2025.

This was not exactly what I was expecting! I guess I was thinking it would be more structured like Come Closer, but alas it was a fun and different kind of read.