If racing Poirot to find the killer is your idea of a good time, you'll no doubt enjoy these interactive detective stories.
Thanks to the huge success of crime-themed puzzle books like Murdle, there has been a flurry of solve-it-yourself murder mystery books published in recent years. These stories transform readers from passive observers into active participants in a murder investigation, with fiendish puzzles to solve and clues to pick over. Some are a linked series of puzzles while others have more of a story element with clues or puzzles to solve dropped in.
If, like most crime fiction fans, you think you would make a great detective, here’s your chance to prove it. Happy sleuthing!
The best interactive murder mysteries
Strange Pictures by Uketsu
This unique Japanese mystery is made up of four inventive short stories that each contain a mystery to solve with clues found hidden within pencil drawings and sketches.
Pushkin Vertigo Strange Pictures by Uketsu
Can You Solve The Murder? by Anthony Johnson
A wellness retreat housed in a grand Gothic manor is the setting for this fiendishly clever story. When the body of a local businessman is found dead on the lawn, with a rose placed in his mouth, it's up to the reader to solve the murder. You’ll need a notebook for this one, and your full attention, as clues are dotted throughout and it’s the reader’s job to decide who to interview, decipher the clues and – ultimately – to find the culprit.
Bantam Can You Solve the Murder? by Anthony Johnston
You Are The Detective: The Creeping Hand Murder by Maureen Johnson & Jay Cooper
Set in 1930s England, this interactive locked-room mystery starts with the death of a famous writer who has been killed in front of six witnesses, all now claiming they saw nothing. There are detailed maps, photographs and interview transcripts for the reader to pore over in this fully illustrated mystery, as you work towards piecing together the evidence and finding the killer.
Harvill Secker You Are The Detective: The Creeping Hand Murder
The Game is Murder by Hazell Ward
In this witty mystery the reader plays the role of the Great Detective, investigating a cold case from the 1970s. One evening in 1974, a servant is found murdered in the basement of the Verreman family’s home and the evidence points to the killer being Lord Verreman, who allegedly mistook the woman for his wife. But is he the culprit? Fans of Golden Age crime writing will love all the nods to the classics.
Michael Joseph The Game Is Murder by Hazell Ward
The Museum Heist by Henry Lewis
A valuable gemstone known as The Tiger's Eye was stolen from the Kensington Museum and it's your job to find out who took it, using the clues dotted throughout this beautifully illustrated book. Some of the puzzles are simpler to solve than others so this is great fun for all the family.
Sphere The Museum Heist by Henry Lewis
The most fun puzzle books
If you’re looking for a fun brainteaser, and you’ve already finished your Murdle book, we recommend the following mystery-themed puzzles.
The Official Agatha Christie Puzzle Book
Solve the 100 puzzles in this book and find the missing librarian - just the right amount of a challenge!
Laurence King The Official Agatha Christie Puzzle Book
Murdoku by M. Garand
This unique grid-based puzzle book blends Cluedo with Sudoku. Each puzzle is a mini crime scene and your job is to work out which suspect was closest to the victim and is therefore the killer. There are 80 cases to solve, each more complicated – and more addictive – than the last.
Death in Paradise: The Puzzle Book
Fan of the long-running series set on the island of Saint Marie will love this puzzle book featuring 150 fiendish puzzles. You play the role of Detective Inspector and, as you’ve only just arrived on the island, you’ve been given the task of solving some cold cases.
The Death in Paradise: The Puzzle Book
Murder Most Puzzling
Readers play the part of faithful sidekick to amateur sleuth Medea Thorne in order to solve 20 puzzling cases - from a body in the topiary garden, a death at a clairvoyants' convention, and the mysterious accident of the boating lake.
Chronicle Books Murder Most Puzzling: Twenty Mysterious Cases to Solve
Chronicle Books Murder Most Puzzling: Twenty Mysterious Cases to Solve
The Murder Mystery Club Puzzle Book: Murder in the Village by Gareth Moore and Laura Jane Ayres
Cosy crime fans will love this puzzle book where more than 70 puzzles are woven into one case set in a quaint English village you need to solve. The variety of puzzles keeps it interesting all the way through.
Michael O'Mara Books The Murder Mystery Club Puzzle Book: Murder in the Village
