The BBC reports today that a series of events is being planned to commemorate the publication of Masquerade, a picture book that launched a treasure hunt in the UK.
Masquerade was a publishing sensation in 1979. The prize may have been buried in the UK, but that didn’t stop a million people around the world buying it and struggling to solve the clues in the story book’s intricate illustrations.
I remember buying a copy and being fascinated by it. But when it came to solving the puzzles, I really didn’t have a clue. It was obvious I didn’t have what it would take to locate the treasure. In any case, I was in Australia, and thousands of miles from the likely burial place.
Masquerade stayed in my memory and resurfaced years later when I was working on my novel, Crossing Live. In that story, Roland Kendall is tasked with creating a viewer competition for Channel 5 Brisbane’s flagship news show, Newscenter5. He struggles for inspiration until he hears that the prize is $50,000 in gold.
With just a few days to nail down the details of the competition, Roland draws on his own memories of the concept behind Masquerade. He buries the gold and creates a series of puzzles for viewers to solve.
In a perfect world, Roland would put everything into designing the nightly clues for broadcast during through the news hour. But he’s working in television, a world where deadlines take precedence over quality. And, as with all things Roland, nothing goes according to plan. The treasure hunt turns out to be harder to execute than Roland imagines.
The real story behind Masquerade and the scandal surrounding it is like a work of fiction. The BBC has a good summary here.
And for more about Roland Kendall’s treasure hunt and an example of the clues, go here.