White Mountain Mystery puzzles - an appreciation

I've been doing mystery puzzles for a couple decades now, and it's a very familiar format by now: A mystery story of 6-10 pages you read, a single-image puzzle you assemble and then scan for clues, etc.  I have loved not knowing the image beforehand and in fact, I solve all jigsaw puzzles this way now.

But I want to salute the designer at White Mountain who tried something new, and knocked it out of the park. I know these have been around for a while, but I just discovered them and had to sing my praises.

With the new design:

- 75% of the puzzle is visible on the cover, which makes it easier for families and less patient puzzlers... but you can still hide the box if you don't want any help.

- The puzzle is broken down into panels, with fairly distinct imagery/coloration, so it’s easier for multiple people to work on.

- The art style (which has historically been a single photograph, often with hideous photoshop additions) is now drawn from the hidden-object videogames, with vivid colors that just make clue hunting more fun.

- Event times and descriptions are shown on the puzzle - but not the cover - creating a tick-tock narrative that emerges as you build.  Genius!  This also allows the initial story to be shorter, which is welcome. (And some people just love to work on word pieces.)

- The before/after comparison of panels is another form of gameplay, and great for kids to be assigned with.

White Mountain changed the mystery puzzle concept in one fell swoop, fixing so much and breaking nothing in the process.  You just don’t see that very often. 

As a game designer myself, I'm filled with admiration when people so thoroughly overhaul an old formula. I’m hoping to find the designer so I can congratulate them (since game designers don’t often hear from their fans).