Dea Hoover is a bit wary of saying too much about her new book.

While most authors eagerly walk through chapters in some detail, the St. Louis-based tour director hesitates to reveal anything beyond its title. But she has cause to be circumspect.

“STL Scavenger: The Ultimate Guide to St. Louis Hidden Treasures” is not an ordinary book. Instead, it is a challenge – a collection of clues with prizes waiting for those who correctly navigate both its pages and city streets.

“What it does is make people get into neighborhoods they wouldn't normally go to,” Hoover explained. “You find restaurants, parks, memorials.”

Hoover grew up in Vandalia, where her mother still runs the Firestone tire shop. A first generation college student, she graduated from Washington University. From there, Hoover took off to see the world, several times over.

As owner of the full-service tour operation A”re We There Yet?,” she has traveled through six continents. She also directs Discover St. Louis, which would seem to make the task of locating hidden treasures relatively easy.

Not so, Hoover admits.

“St. Louis is a bunch of small towns – I never expected that,” she said. “There were so many surprises.”

Vincent's Market in the Soulard neighborhood, for instance, has a long but unsettled history. Several times in the past, the little shop was forced to move as new highways were constructed. It eventually ended up outside the city – that is until earth turning equipment appeared one more time.

Hoover says her favorite spot in the city is Lafayette Square Park. Not only is it surrounded by some 400 Victorian homes, the landscape also has never been changed since the park was established.

“That's a place I never knew about growing up,” she pointed out.

“STL Scavenger” actually takes you on a hunt through the metro area, searching for locations hinted at in the book. Clues are offered in poetic form and provide only modest hope of success, at least on the surface.

“This area offers some rest / Near a guy who's perpetually wet / Post your mail and perch on a bench / As you watch the old man get drenched.”

Got that one? How about:

“Have you seen the striking pair of cats / Upon a pillar 100 years they have sat / Opportunity is what they stand for / I can practically hear them roar.”

Their reward for successful sleuthing are gift certificates, tickets to area attractions and even $500 in cash. The scavenger hunt started May 1 and concludes on Nov. 15.

Winner will be declared on Dec. 1.

The challenge has been readily accepted. Books were swept from shelves – or website distribution centers — so quickly the publisher ordered a second printing after less than two weeks. “STL Scavenger” featured on the local best seller list for more than a month.

Hoover can thank travel for a lot. She met her husband and business partner, Declan Rutan, on a tour of Ireland. She runs two successful companies and now can claim author status.

But Hoover looks to her roots – growing up in a rural Audrain County community, the time her father enrolled her in a Dale Carnegie Course as a teen and the novel experience as a first generation college student.

“4-H, Dale Carnegie and Washington University – those three things made me,” she observed.

With family in Vandalia and an entire globe as her domain, Hoover admits to a good life.

“I get to live in two worlds,” she said.