You Be The Jury: Courtroom Collection

Marvin Miller

Order in the court!

The court is now in session, and you are the jury. You examine the evidence. You spot the clues. You decide: Guilty or Not Guilty?

Can you solve the following baffling cases?

?       What really happened to Mr. Compson in The Case of the Dangerous Golf Ball?

?       Who is spying on Gordon Winslow in The Case of the Nosy Neighbor?

?       Who commited the crime in The Case of the Troublesome Twins?

Inside, you’ll find forty courtroom mysteries with illustrated clues. You can look up the answers if you’re stumped, but try not to peek. The final verdict is up to you!

(from the back of the book)

 

If you like puzzles you’ll probably like You Be the Jury: Courtroom Collection (which is actually four books in one).

You Be the Jury is a compilation of 40 court case scenarios. Each scenario is about 3 to 4 pages long and starts off with one side giving their account of the crime, and then the other side will give their account. After each scenario is three page-sized illustrations which contain more clues that will either contradict or support the defendant’s story. Your job is to act as the jury and try to determine the defendant’s guilt or innocence using the clues provided in the text and pictures. The solution is always on the page that follows the three pages of illustrations.

The cases themselves are fairly simple; mostly robberies, forgeries, and fraud. The stories told by the people in the court are straightforward and there are always two clear sides to each story. There usually isn’t any way to figure out who is telling the truth and who is lying without looking at the pictures. There are always three pictures, but there is usually only one with the clue to solve the puzzle. The clues aren’t always obvious, but once you find it you’ll immediately get the answer.

The original You Be the Jury books were published in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, and it sometimes shows. The cases are written in a way where they could take place at almost any time but, because there isn’t any mention of modern technology like cell phones or computer files, the stories give off the feeling of happening in the past. There’s even a case centered around a young boy using a typewriter to type up a school project. I almost didn’t get the clue for that case because I have very little experience with typewriters, having only used one for a short time during my childhood. So it’s a bit dated.

The cases are not connected to each other in any way, so there isn’t any kind of storyline throughout the book. This makes it easy to put down the book and pick it back up later if you don’t feel like going through all 40 cases in one go. It also makes it so that the cases don’t have to be read in any kind of order.

This is a pretty good book to pick up if you enjoy puzzle solving and short stories. It reads very easily and is not aimed at any particular age of reader so it both the young and old would have no trouble enjoying it. (Although I got my copy from a Scholastics book order while I was in school so a younger reader may enjoy it more than someone older.)