Murdoku Puzzle Book with 80 Murder Mystery Logic Puzzles

The 80 criminal cases are all built as logic puzzles. Each case hands you a set of clues, and from those you reconstruct where the suspects and the victim were until the culprit is clear. Because the scene lies in front of you as a hand-drawn plan, you can see the setting while you reason.

The locations change from case to case. You investigate in a bakery, a casino, at a chess tournament, on a farm, in an opera house, in a restaurant and in a bookshop, among others. The difficulty rises from easy to demanding, which is why this Sudoku-style crime puzzle works for beginners as much as for experienced solvers.

Murdoku is a card-cover paperback with 208 pages. The key details at a glance:

• 80 criminal cases as logic puzzles
• Paperback, card cover, 208 pages
• Format 17 x 24 cm, 1.7 cm thick
• Weight 540 g
• German language, original title Murdoku
• Colourfully illustrated, hand-drawn crime scene plans
• Made in Slovenia

The murder puzzle book is for anyone who enjoys careful deduction and has a weakness for crime fiction and true crime. Sudoku fans will recognise the familiar logic but get a story with it. Following the publisher's recommendation it is a book for teenagers and adults rather than for small children.

As a present it works at Christmas, for a birthday, for a Secret Santa draw or as a small something to bring along. It also makes good holiday reading, because you can put the book down at any point and carry on with the next case later.

Work in pencil so you can enter an assumption and drop it again. If this kind of puzzle is new to you, start with the easy cases and work your way up to the demanding ones. While you reason, note what you can already rule out, not only what you know for certain.

With two people the book turns into a joint investigation: one reads the clues aloud, the other fills in the plan. If you race through the 80 cases, there is a follow-up volume called Murdoku 2 Auf Zeitreise, and the two books together make a more generous gift for puzzle fans. If you are giving it to someone abroad, remember that the text is in German.

How many puzzles does the book contain? It contains 80 criminal cases, each built as a logic puzzle.

How does a Murdoku puzzle work? It combines Sudoku mechanics with the storytelling of classic logic puzzles. From the clues you reconstruct where the suspects and the victim were and identify the culprit.

How big is the book? The paperback measures 17 x 24 cm, is 1.7 cm thick, has 208 pages and weighs 540 g.

Is the book suitable for newcomers to logic puzzles? Yes. The difficulty rises from easy to demanding, so it suits beginners and experienced solvers alike.

Is there a second volume? Yes, the sequel is called Murdoku 2 Auf Zeitreise and is available separately.