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Author profile

Tim Collins and his puzzle books

Tim Collins is a writer from Manchester who worked in advertising before writing books. His fiction includes Diary of a Wimpy Vampire and the Sherlock Bones mysteries. In his Elimination Puzzles, the reader has to carry the investigation through to the answer.

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Biography and criticism

From Sherlock Bones to a list of 40,000 suspects

Collins has written several kinds of puzzle book. Where to start depends on whether you want a deduction to work on between sittings or an adventure you can steer as you read.

Three ways to use elimination

Start with Find the Christmas Killer for one case built around a single suspect list. There is one name to establish, so progress means having fewer entries to check. Find the Fugitives gives you four linked case files for people involved in the same heist. Each file has its own suspect list and clues, giving you a separate target within the larger investigation.

Find the Secret Code makes the answer a code. A missing cryptographer gives the search its stakes, and the clues help rule out combinations. The books share an elimination method, but each starts with a different problem and supplies its own case. You can begin with the premise that interests you.

Puzzles inside an adventure

In Sherlock Bones and the Case of the Crown Jewels, a dog detective and his feline assistant investigate a theft. Mazes, visual searches, and matching games give younger readers small problems to solve while the pair pursue the thief. It is a natural starting point if the reader wants a story with frequent changes of activity.

Traitors in Space also asks the reader to take part, this time by choosing what to do aboard a spaceship. Illustrated puzzle missions sit at turning points, and the choices can send the adventure toward different endings. That is a different reason to turn back through a book from checking an earlier page in a suspect list.

Puzzle Books

Bibliography

Books by Tim Collins

Reviews and book guides open on Book Review Guide. The full list comes from the linked bibliography source.

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Find the Fugitives

First published 2026
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Not reviewed yet

Find the Secret Code

First published 2026
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Not reviewed yet

Traitors in Space

First published 2025
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Not reviewed yet

Sherlock Bones and the Case of the Crown Jewels

First published 2022

Bibliographic source: Michael O'Mara Books author catalog.

Books on this site

Tim Collins reviews and guides

Cover of Find the Christmas Killer

2026Review

Find the Christmas Killer

Elimination Mystery Puzzle Book

A murder at a Christmas Eve singalong leaves one killer among 40,000 people dressed as Santa. Twelve clues help you cross names off the festival's attendee list.

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