The End

The End

Puzzle

Puzzle Solution

This puzzle appeared in Microsoft Puzzle Hunt 16, whose theme was books. This was the final puzzle, i.e., the order teams finished it was the overall event ranking. Teams received one clue for each puzzle they solved, and five clues for each metapuzzle they solved. But, in this online version, you unlock clues by solving other clues. I also changed the online version to have a final answer instead of a final instruction.

Check answer

Hints

For each synopsis, identify the fictional book whose title is clued. That title will be a real book title with an additional word added. This new word will make a compound word or phrase with one of the words in the real book title.
Each real book title is used three times for three different clues. In each case, the same word in that title is expanded into a compound word or phrase.
The book titles in the "Solved" panel are shown in alphabetical order, so if you're missing a few you can use the positions of the blanks to see where the missing ones fit alphabetically.
The final answer is a clue for a fictional book title somewhat in the style of the other fictional book titles.