How absolutely puzzling!

Perhaps much like working on solving a mystery, working on a jigsaw puzzle is about looking for clues, carefully studying them, and piecing together the parts. Obviously, every piece is precisely just that,  and no matter how many you have, the whole lot is merely a bunch of pieces.

But establish a connection by piecing them together and the emerging picture may begin to make sense.

It may be tempting at times to force two pieces together because they look just about right. But eventually, the big picture will look odd somewhere. As with a jigsaw puzzle, insisting that clues lead to a certain conclusion -- or that something is a clue when it doesn't mean anything or is irrelevant to the case -- will get you nowhere. Or worse, result in the arrest of the wrong persons while the real villains elude capture. 

Sometimes there will be a need to retrace steps, rotate a piece or two which previously looked perfect in there, or altogether dismantle an entire portion because it just doesn't add up (maybe your little brother put a few pieces in the wrong spot while you weren't looking and now you don't know why you seem to have hit a dead end and aren't making any progress). Nancy Drew's persistence and smarts would definitely come in handy during such instances!

So, here's where I'm at in this custom-made 120-piece jigsaw puzzle. I had it made from a photo of an old book cover I found online, and the somewhat tattered portion along the spine clinched my choice as it gives the image a hint of authenticity instead of a perfectly polished, brand-new look.

This was before I learned of the existence of wonderful Nancy Drew jigsaw puzzles that feature the series' classic covers! The beautiful 1,000-piece and 500-piece puzzles by Cobble Hill are here and here, while this litograph puzzle looks mighty fascinating (and challenging!).

Now, please excuse me as I retrace my steps to my own mystery yet to be solved. Clues made of cardboard are waiting to be pieced together.