It turned out to be an excellent book. Not at all what I was expecting from a "Mystery" or "Crime" novel. I think part of the difference here was this is broken up into a series of short mysteries where you get the problem, clues, and solution all within a shorter span but over and over. This kept the book much more exciting and fresh. Stereotypical mystery/crime novels give you the problem, clues, and solution over the span of the entire book and it gets stale and boring.

edit: reading this also got me back in a pipe smoking mood (it's seasonal/cyclical with me), so I went to the local tobacconist to get some fresh tobacco, where I promptly fell in love with a brand new Caminetto pipe. $260 later, I've got an early Christmas present from my wife. However, reading the "free" book to save a bit of cash on this challenge ended up costing me far more than just buying and reading other >.>