Readers in Britain might be familiar with an old TV game show called Through the Keyhole. The basic idea was for contestants to guess which celebrity home was being shown in a short video. The video would include clues to the celebrity’s identity.
Today’s quiz takes the game show’s name more literally and below are 20 covers of classic crime novels. However, you can only see a keyhole’s worth of the cover. From this small snippet you need to guess which title is hiding behind the keyhole.
Be wait! There is an additional challenge to puzzle out. The first letter of each title, when all 20 are combined, spells out a classic crime novel written by a famous author. You don’t need to rearrange the letters, the order of the images, is the order of the letters that make up the mystery title.
I have used many recent reprint covers to make the puzzle a bit easier and there are many familiar authors in the list. I will put up the answers later this month.
Good Luck!
crossexaminingcrime 
Great idea. I can’t get them all but I know what the title is.
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Thanks!
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Like countdownjohn, I can’t come up with more than half the titles, but I know what the bonus title is.
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Well done!
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I own many if these — especially the vintage ones like the Elizabeth Daly book and the Delano Ames book. I’ll try to work them all out. Interesting the the two above figured out the bonus without knowing all the books shown. Is the bonus that much a giveaway?
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The bonus title was designed to not be too difficult, I thought it might help people identify the missing titles, if they knew what letters they had to start with.
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How fun Alas, I have only guessed 3
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I got all but #2, #11 (is that a body in a hayloft? No idea what the photo is supposed to represent), #15, and #18. I was sure that 15?was one of the Penzler American Crime Classics, but I couldn’t find anything with a pilot on the cover. I know the title starts with Y but I’m at a loss. I give up! I’m emailing you what I found to prove I got most of them. Quite a challenge. I’m bummed I couldn’t get them all.
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” I was sure that 15 was one of the Penzler American Crime Classics,” Well, John, you are correct !
Another hint: One of your misses is an Elizabeth Ferrars !
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Well spotted, yes there is a Ferrars lurking in the list.
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Well done John! You have the most correct answers so far if that is any comfort. #11 does feature a body in some hay/straw but not in a hayloft. As Santosh has pointed out you are correct that #15 is an AMC cover and you are correct that it begins with a Y. It has not had much coverage online, although Aidan I think has reviewed it.
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Thanks for taking part.
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Another hint for pretty sinister John.
No. 2 is clearly a green penguin crime book (The author has done well in the recently concluded poll by Puzzle Doctor)
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My solution:
1. TIH
2. HHC
3. EUTS
4. SD
5. EOTS
6. VITS
7. EFAT
8. NOTJ
9. DOAD
10. IWBN
11. AQOP
12. LLB
13. SSHM
14. MGM
15. YT,MM
16. SD
17. ?
18. ETKAH
19. ROTP
20. YOLT
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ahh our most completed list of answers yet. Well done! Hope number 17 doesn’t cost you too much sleep. I thought 17 was easier than number 11 for instance but I guess it just depends which images strike a cord memory wise. Thanks for taking part.
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17. TTITS
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[…] Earlier this month I set you, my dear readers, a new kind of pictorial quiz. There were 20 key hole images. Through each keyhole a snippet view of a book cover, for a classic crime novel, could be seen. You had to correctly identify the title for each cover. There was also a bonus task. The first letter of each title, when all 20 are combined, spelt out a classic crime novel written by a famous author. You didn’t need to rearrange the letters, as the order of the images, is the order of the letters that made up the mystery title. If you would like to have a go at the challenge then follow the link here. […]
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[…] in June I did my first Through the Keyhole quiz, which asked sharp eyed readers to look at images of keyholes. Inside each keyhole would be a […]
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