Alone With the Victim

About this book

Eighty murders, eighty floor plans, one killer each time. A manor on a stormy night, an ocean liner in the middle of the Atlantic, a snowbound ski lodge, a museum after hours, a film set, a night train, a lighthouse cut off by a gale, a desert dig and twelve more places to die.

Every case gives you the victim, four or five suspects and a short list of clues: who sat on a chair, who stood at a window, who was somewhere above whom, which room nobody entered. Place everyone on the plan so that each row and each column holds exactly one person. When everyone is placed, the killer is the one suspect alone in a room with the victim.

Three levels that build up slowly: 26 easy cases on 5 x 5 plans with four suspects, then 27 medium and 27 hard cases on 6 x 6 plans with five suspects. Easy cases need only direct placements, medium cases make the clues work together, and hard cases need a short chain of what-if reasoning, never a guess.

Each case fills a two-page spread, with the story, suspects and clues on the left and a large floor plan on the right. A how-to-play page and a fully worked example get you started. Every case has exactly one solution, checked by computer, and every clue is needed to reach it. Full solutions at the back show where everyone stood, name the killer and give the key deduction.

6 x 9 inches, 192 pages.

Who it's for

Puzzle fans who like a murder mystery story to solve.

Questions