Overall I did enjoy reading Little Mysteries with some of the stories having unique formats including a choose your own story line with multiple endings. The short story titled 'The Mystery at Killington Manor', was definitely my favourite and felt like a proper mystery as it was quite long so was easier to get into and connect with the characters compared to some of the others. However, with some of the shorter stories, I did find myself being a bit confused at the endings as some felt quite abrupt and I had to go back and re-read to make sure I hadn't missed anything. I also at times struggled to get back into it after I'd put it down as it felt quite stop start. I would recommend this book to others and will be checking out more of Sara Gran's work!

This is a book full of fun mysteries - but not ones I think the reader can solve! It was a good time and I absolutely love Sara Gran. But I prefer her other books!

A sweet selection of short stories and my first exposure to Gran. Her writing style is quick witted, succinct yet full of detail that draws you into each quirky little world. I will definitely be reading more of Gran’s work. Immediately a must- buy author.

Let me be clear, this book is about mysteries, but if you're looking to solve something alongside the characters, you won't find that here.

What you will find is easy to read short stories following a few different characters. Most of them are trying to solve mysteries of some kind, but each story is really about the characters and their lives. Some of them may be detectives, trying to solve a case, but these stories are about much more than that. I don't really consider myself a mystery/thriller reader. I find the genre contrived and underwhelming. What drew me to Little Mysteries was only the fact that I'd heard good things about the author. I was so pleasantly surprised by how engrossed I was by Gran's storytelling. The characters, their stories, and the interesting ways Gran chose to tell these stories really made me love this book. I love that this explores humanity and big questions through detectives and people from all walks of life, while also still being easy to read. And by easy to read, I mean something that is just easy to get through as this book does explore many heavy topics throughout.

I would recommend this to short story lovers, mystery lovers, and even maybe someone who doesn't love mysteries as much. I think most readers will find something to enjoy within this book.

Little Mysteries by Sara Gran is a delightful anthology of nine short stories that explore the purpose of mysteries in everyday life. Gran plays with the structure and tone of the detective genre, with clever nods to Nancy Drew and other classic sleuth stories, while digging deeper into the existential questions that lie beneath. The book’s varying points of view, including a second-person narrator who breaks the fourth wall, keeps the reader engaged throughout. Gran’s writing is sharp, witty, and full of metaphors, making each story feel meaningful even when it teeters on the absurd. Fans of mystery fiction will enjoy this playful, yet thoughtful collection. It’s a light, enjoyable read that still leaves room for reflection on life and its unsolved puzzles.

If you grew up on Nancy Drew, Famous Five, Fantastic Four, Hardy Boys, Secret Seven, you'll enjoy this. The writing somehow took me back to nostalgic sleuthing pleasures.

If you binged Law & Order, Monk, CSI, Suits, this book is again for you as it experiments with different formats in small bite sized stories.

Though the book is definitely fun to read in hindsight, I had my issues with it in the form of convincing myself to pick it up after a break. While stories are a mixed bag with this one, there's definitely a niche audience for Little Mysteries.

Wow, I completely adored this book. I'd only read Gran's Come Closer before this, but am now realizing I need to look into her Claire DeWitt series. I did not expect a book of short mystery stories to have me tearing up so many times, or to hit quite so hard - the second-to-last story, The Mystery at Killington Manor, had me screenshotting quotes like crazy (She could have loved me. Every single day, she could have loved me, and did not.) and also realizing that I really need to write about the collapse of my relationship with my parents and get some things out. Woo boy.

Gran uses often marvelously simple language to portray incredibly complex people with a clear-eyed empathy that just knocks me on my ass. Every experiment with style here succeeds beautifully. This is easily one of the top five books I've read this year, I wholeheartedly recommend it.

My thanks to Dreamland Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

This is a collection of short mysteries and one mystery novella that are all perfectly
wonderful. This author’s mysteries always have an edge to them as is if there is always
more under the surface which they do. But what fun reads.

I opened this book on my phone and immediately saw an old-school fortune teller. Now I need the physical copy so I can cut it out and use it!

That being said, this wasn't anything like I expected. It was comical in lots of places, but I also felt very much like there was an underlying theme/message that I just can't articulate because I had shitty instruction in middle/high school around literary analysis tbh. So while I was reading and thinking, "I'm smart, but not smart enough to understand what this author is trying to say," I at least enjoyed myself very much! I'm sure someone smarter than me will come along and actually review the book in a more succinct, thoughtful way. What I will say is that the story about Mrs. Kitty was my least favorite, and I loved the choose-your-own-adventure one.

Based on the title, readers know they're going into a collection of short mysteries. Many of these mysteries are connected to Gran's Claire DeWitt mystery series, including other mysteries including a teen detective, and a historical mystery.

I feel that I possibly was not the right audience for this book, since I think that those who have read
the Claire DeWitt mystery series would get a lot of mysteries and feel more of a connection to them since I felt some were possibly an extension to the Claire DeWitt books.

When reading this book, I only enjoyed one mystery (that being the historical mystery) since I felt that it was more in-depth than the other mysteries that were included in the book, and it was paced a lot better than the other mysteries. The first mystery I felt was paced too quickly, and I felt uncomfortable with the pacing since I as a reader, had just started the book (also the fact that this was my first introduction to the mystery genre). I also felt that the writing sometimes was a bit too detailed, and included some phrases to explain certain emotions or things happening in the plot that made me uncomfortable or just didn't make sense to me. I also felt that some of the mysteries didn't count as mysteries...but instead, a story that included some elements of a whodunit, or just simply something else.

I would recommend reading the Claire DeWitt series, or other works by this author first to get a sense of what you're reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamland Books for the eArc!

I found this to be a lovely surprise. It’s what it advertises - little mysteries, sometimes related, sometimes not. Most of the stories feature Claire DeWitt, a detective Gran has used in prior books, but with whom I was unfamiliar. She’s a good companion to the hard-boiled male detectives of noir mysteries and I enjoyed seeing crimes solved through her eyes. I enjoyed the back half more than the first, because I am a lover of the “people gather at a big manor and start dropping” sub-genre of mysteries. I don’t think these mysteries are meant to be solvable (the title does say “to confuse” after all) because our detective tends to solve them with clues not provided to the reader. Overall, it feels like Sara Gran has a deep love for detective stories and I really enjoyed my time reading this.

Claire DeWitt fans rejoice. More Claire DeWitt and Claire DeWitt stories and other bite sized mysteries. Sara Gran has show her growth as a writer of novels and now we know we can expect entertaining short stories as well.

Thank you NetGalley for another ARC,

Little Mysteries: Nine Miniature Puzzles to Confuse, Enthrall, and Delight, by Sara Gran was a delightful little surprise. I have heard of Sara’s work before, Come Closer is currently on my October/Halloween TBR, but I didn’t know that she wrote mysteries. Most of the nine short stories of Little Mysteries feature Claire DeWitt, Gran’s very own Poirot, sort to speak.
Claire DeWitt is the world’s best private detective and, to be honest? I believe her.

Because I didn’t read any of her books before (Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead; Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway and The Infinite Blacktop) I don’t know too much about her as a character but, from what I read, I absolutely loved her. She is a flawed human being but you can’t help but love her, because she never stops trying.

I have half a mind to read everything that Sara Gran ever wrote.

Annoying when I am unable to send ARC's to my kindle. Unfortunately this one was not for me. In a world with SO many books being published, I just don't see this as a must in our collection.

Overall, this isn't a bad book, if you go into it without any expectations for what it should be. From the synopsis, I had hoped this book would be full of mini whodunnit mysteries that I could read and try to solve, like the ones in puzzle books, but better written and more complex. However, this book is more focused on reflections on life. While that could be an interesting take on the mystery genre, it wasn't what I had expected from the synopsis, so unfortunately I had difficulty immersing myself into the stories. Had it been marketed differently, I definitely would have appreciated it better. In general, if you're a fan of the author and her previous characters, this book might resonate better with you than it did for me! Perhaps I'll give it another go in the future, but for now, I think I can only give it three stars.

Thank you to Net Galley and Dreamland Books for this ARC!

I don't know what I expected from this, but it was not at all what I thought it would be. A truly fun and thought-provoking blend of mystery and lit fic. There were a few stories that made me laugh and others that made me cry. Some were classic mysteries and some were about the mysteries of life. I loved it.

I really love the idea of this collection. I think if I talked to someone about what it was about and what it tries to do, I would end up sounding incredibly enthusiastic and perhaps talk myself into a higher rating. But ultimately, very few of these stories (or moments of these stories) deeply connected with me. I loved the nod to teenage detectives and the classic stories we grew up with, but nothing solidly stuck the landing for me.
I've really enjoyed some of Sara Gran's other books, but I haven't read the Claire Dewitt series. I didn't realize how prominently (and I guess I'm still not 100% sure how prominently) those characters would feature in this collection. But I'm guessing you would maybe enjoy this slightly more having read those.
this did absolutely make me want to read those, as Gran clearly does some fun subversive and interesting things with this genre that I adore.

An interesting collection of short mysteries. There is one with the past and present story side by side on the page. One like a choose your own adventure book. One that ends very unexpectedly, plus six others.
Goodreads

A collection of short tales by the author of COME CLOSER, which are puzzling, sometimes confusing, elucidating the ways in which sometimes Life refuses to provide clarity and sometimes puzzles remain unsolved.

A sublime collection of stories, involving Gran's Claire DeWitt universe of detective fiction.

Less about the specific mystery of each crime, more about the general mystery that is life itself, Gran is exceptional, not just in creating fascinating stories, but in creating a mood that is both mystical and rooted in the difficulties of navigating the modern world.