When their marriage broke down, Catherine was banished to Ampthill castle. This is a cryptic reference to the six wives of Henry VIII, his first being Catherine of Aragon. The fourth side on page 1 reads “One of six to eight”. Knowing that the treasure has been buried in the earth, and combined with the fact that the hare in this picture is disguised as a hill, I take this as a hint that the hare is buried in a hill. Turning to the message on this page, the first three sides read “I am as cold as earth, as old as earth and in the earth am I”. On page 1, these letters make the word “golden”. I have put squares round these letters in the image. Less obviously, several letters have spurs on them. Several letters on each page are written in red, and these letters can be arranged to form a relevant word. Toes and fingers are often in contorted positions through the book (take a look at the “scream” painting on page 7 for a clear example) and we have been told that the hares point to the prize.Įvery painting has a message round the border, starting on the left side and reading clockwise.

In the image, I have circled its four feet. On to the first painting! There are several features common to every page, and this one starts off the book with some more massive hints.Īs mentioned, every page features a hare and this one is slap-bang in the middle disgused as a hill. But this clue has two deeper, double meanings: eyes are important, and the hares point, literally, to the answer. Indeed, there is a hare hidden on every page, and hunting them down is the first bit of fun to be had in the book. The clues start right on the title page: “To solve the hidden riddle, you must use your eyes, / And find the hare in every picture that may point you to the prize”. Skip to the end if you want, or try to work it out for yourself once pointed in the right direction. It also gradually reveals hints to how the main puzzle works, before giving away the full solution. This post goes through some of the little puzzles in the book (as much as can be covered in a single blog post). Masquerade is the quintessential armchair treasure hunt book: beautiful to look at and filled with many small, easy puzzles as well as one large one that is nigh impossible to solve.

Kit williams treasure