The Killer Isn't Alice

by Iris Starling

46,600 SUSPECTS. 18 CLUES. 1 KILLER. CAN YOU SOLVE THE CRIME?

Test your detective skills in the addictive murder mystery puzzle book sensation―newly revised and expanded.

*Now with updated graphics, a brand-new culprit, and a never-before-seen, thrilling bonus puzzle.*

Alice Starling is missing. In her apartment, the police find three things:

* A DEAD BODY
* A CRYPTIC NOTE
* A FOLDER OF NAMES

Alice insists she is innocent―but she needs your help. . .

In a hastily written letter, Alice has left you with 18 specific clues and a list of 46,600 potential suspects. Somewhere in this sea of names hides a murderer.

YOUR MISSION IS SIMPLE BUT CHALLENGING:

* ANALYZE THE CLUES: Use the 18 pieces of evidence Alice entrusted to you.
* ELIMINATE THE INNOCENT: Methodically narrow down the list by stripping away those who do not fit the criteria.
* IDENTIFY THE CULPRIT: Find the one name that satisfies every single clue.

A NEW GENRE OF INTERACTIVE MYSTERY

Forget everything you know about whodunnits. This first-of-its-kind, immersive logic puzzle is easy to grasp and impossible to put down. This is a pure test of logic, observation, and deduction.

Do you have what it takes to clear Alice's name?

Genres: Mystery, Puzzles, Nonfiction, Mystery Thriller, Thriller

224 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2026

Reviews

[Jayme C (Brunetteslikebookstoo)]

From the Publisher’s blurb:

46,600 SUSPECTS. 18 CLUES. 1 KILLER. CAN YOU SOLVE THE CRIME?

Alice Starling is missing. In her apartment, the police find these things:

* A DEAD BODY
* A CRYPTIC NOTE
* A FOLDER OF NAMES

Alice insists she is innocent and she needs you to identify the culprit!

***

Yes, 46,000 names!
PAGE AFTER PAGE of NAMES
CHAPTER AFTER CHAPTER of NAMES

We have to read the clues, and go through each chapter CROSSING off NAMES as we eliminate SUSPECTS.

Until you are left with the ONE NAME-that satisfies EVERY.SINGLE.CLUE.

Then you send in the name of who you have identified as the CULPRIT online to see if you are correct! And, you get a reply telling you if you got it right!

I loved the IDEA of this but I had NO IDEA there would be endless pages of names. Although it’s FUN concept- it’s too hard on my OLD 👀 EYES so I don’t know if I will ever complete it.

Thank You to Little Brown and Company and the NOVEL SUSPECTS program for sending me a gifted physical copy of this book!

It’s AVAILABLE now and might make a great Christmas gift 🎁 for the puzzle lover in your life!

[Caitlin Ford]

- one star because I almost lost my sanity

[Erin]

This isn’t a traditional book, more a bit of a logic game and I found it quite fun (although maybe I’ll like it less if my answer isn’t correct. Haven’t heard back yet.)

I can’t wait for the next one! Came across it here on GR.

UPDATE: I was INCORRECT and I am shamed. It’s cute. You submit what you think the solution is online and you’ll get an email in a few hours. And not only did it tell me I was wrong, it told me why I was wrong.

It’s because I can’t count. I was assured there would be no math.

So, back to it and I’ll have to update the “finish” date. Hopefully.

[Nina]

I love love love love love this idea. Once you think you know who the killer is, there is a website you submit to and they will let you know if you are correct or incorrect. It took me about 5 days from doing it in the evening and I got it on my first try. But ugh, I hope she does more because this was wonderful.

[Belles]

Good mystery puzzle book! Minus 1 star because it was very mentally taxing to read nothing but an endless list of names. Because of that I wish it was a bit shorter. But I did enjoy it. I will probably now look for other puzzle books like this in the future.

[Liliana]

The perfect adjective: mind-blowing! (literally) It was so addictive that I was kept away from my normal daily reading. But it felt so good when I finally solved the mistery!

Update: I must’ve lost my marbles. I preordered the new edition.

[Haley]

I completely screwed this up. I first found Zack and Anna’s page and then went page by page finding the 3 letter words and just crossing off the leading and following 10 names until I found only 1 not crossed off. Then I ensured that all clues were met… and you know what name I found… ALICE. But of course it isn’t fucking Alice. So I give up! I have completely marked the crap out of my book and I don’t want to start over to do it the right way. I will just tell myself it is Alice and never know who the real killer is. Sorry Alice you’ll be wrongly convicted. ✌🏼

[Sabrina]

Liked it at first, but hated the ending. The concept is interesting, but the book is way too long. After reading hundreds of pages of names and details, missing a single page meant I couldn't solve the mystery. I had to look online to find out what I missed, and only then did the clues make sense. Clever idea, but overly drawn out and frustrating.

[Amy Leeke]

This book had me intrigued when I saw it advertised on Insta. It was daunting, to be sure, but once I got into a rhythm, I felt it moved quickly. Good brain workout! Side note: I emailed the address in the book to ask a question about clue semantics, and the author personally reached out to clear it up for me. Loved that!

[Стефани Витанова]

За първи път в живота си връщам книга. По анотацията реших, че е крими загадка. Оказаха се 200 страници, пълни само с имена. 😳 Отговаряш на няколко въпроса, като търсиш букви в имената. Това е. Буквално.

[Ryann Barnash]

Title: The Killer Isn’t Alice
Author: Iris Starling
Genre: Puzzle Book
Length: 211 pgs.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This book was surprisingly more difficult than I originally thought it would be - crossing off names doesn’t sound all that hard until you’re on page 115 of 200 and all the words have started to blur together. I ended up using different colored highlighters for each clue which helped a lot and made for some pretty cool-looking pages.
I also didn’t do the clues in order, which was a big help because some of them would have taken forever to complete if I hadn’t narrowed down the options first. I’d also say to take full advantage of the website - there’s an FAQ page that was able to answer all of my questions (I guess my problems aren’t that original).
This puzzle book is perfect for staying busy on long car rides, plane flights, etc., slow days at work, or just for relaxing every night before bed. It’s great because, as long as you remember what clue you were on, you don’t have to hold a bunch of details and hints in your head between solving sessions. I was able to put it down for almost a week at one point and come back and pick it up exactly where I’d left off without any issues.
This book saved me on some long car rides and slow days working customer service, and I was really proud of myself when I finally figured out who the killer was!

This book is currently only available for purchase on Amazon.

[Anja Legermann-Schmitz]

If you enjoy huge Puzzles you will enjoy this too. It is not very rewarding in the beginning and given that you get absolutely no back story it couldn’t hold my attention.

[Kimberly Heyming]

Perfect for camping. Makes you go insane at times. Normally wouldn’t count a book like this but the amount of hours I read name after name after name I could have read multiple novels.😂

[Sophia]

A very fun puzzle book. Took me a few months to "read" through all the names. Highly recommend.

[Colton Campbell]

A little daunting, but very cool how it rewires your brain to make things easier on yourself to solve.

[kelsey williams]

Nearly lost my sanity several times. The small wins along the way kept me going. This book would be a great gift for anyone who loves logic puzzles!

[Carolyn Venne]

Completed the first edition and now on the second

[Sheryl Henschel]

Took me about 4 weeks to solve. There are 18 clues so get your highlighters ready. Go through the 200 pages and eliminate (highlight) the names that cannot be the killer. (Ie The killer’s name does not start with an “s”). After going through all 18 clues, you should be left with one name (out of 46,600). You submit your answer to a website and they will get back to you (within about an hour) with an answer if you are right or not. I solved it on my first attempt. 🎉

[aoparliamodilibri]

Ci so diventata scema co sto libro di merda

[burgundowezycie]

46 600 podejrzanych, 18 wskazówek i jeden morderca - podejmiecie wyzwanie?

Wyobraźcie sobie, że budzicie się w środku kryminalnej zagadki, której nikt inny nie rozwiąże za Was. Nie ma detektywa, który powie Wam, kto zabił. Nie ma narratora, który delikatnie poprowadzi nas za rękę. Jest tylko ciało, tajemnicza notatka i teczka zawierająca 46 600 imion oraz 18 wskazówek.

Alice Starling zniknęła. W jej mieszkaniu policja znalazła martwe ciało, kartkę z Waszym imieniem i listę tysięcy potencjalnych sprawców. Alice twierdzi, że jest niewinna. A my mamy teraz jedyne zadanie: udowodnić, że mówi prawdę… albo znaleźć tego, kto naprawdę zabił.

To nie jest klasyczna powieść kryminalna. To książka-łamigłówka, detektywistyczna gra, w której zamiast czytać o śledztwie — sami je prowadzimy. Każda wskazówka pozwala wykreślić kolejne setki, a potem dziesiątki nazwisk. Jedna mówi, że imię mordercy znajduje się w rozdziale, którego tytuł zawiera nazwę miasta. Inna — że w tym samym rozdziale muszą pojawić się imiona wszystkich Beatlesów. Brzmi prosto? Spróbuj. Lista 46 600 osób potrafi skutecznie ostudzić zapał… aż do momentu, gdy nagle zaczyna się kurczyć.

I wtedy pojawia się to uczucie. To przyjemne, lekko narkotyczne „oho… jestem coraz bliżej”. A potem kolejna wskazówka znów wszystko miesza.

„Mordercą nie jest Alice” nie rozpieszcza. Wymaga skupienia, cierpliwości i prawdziwej dedukcji. Nie da się jej „przeczytać jednym okiem”. Trzeba pracować z książką: wracać, notować, eliminować, sprawdzać. Ale właśnie dlatego satysfakcja, gdy wreszcie zostaje jedno jedyne imię, jest zupełnie inna niż po przeczytaniu tradycyjnego kryminału.

Jeśli lubicie sudoku, łamigłówki logiczne, zagadki detektywistyczne i moment, w którym mózg zaczyna pracować na najwyższych obrotach — to jest książka dla Was!

46 600 podejrzanych.
18 wskazówek.
Jeden morderca.

I tym razem to Wy musicie go znaleźć.
Gotowi?

Dziękuję za zaufanie i egzemplarz do recenzji od @zysk_wydawnictwo (współpraca reklamowa) 🩷.

[Joanna Hristova]

Идеята на книгата определено е интересна и нестандартна, но за съжаление, според мен, изпълнението ѝ беше прекалено усложнено и на моменти доста объркващо.

Най-приятната част беше проследяването на уликите на конкретните страници и елиминиране на заподозрените. За съжаление обаче, това представляваше може би 1% от цялото упражнение. Останалото се превърна в почти безкрайно преглеждане на хиляди имена. Отне ми около две седмици, в които почти всеки ден проверявах страници и имена, а в един момент, колкото и да се стараеш, започваш да се разконцентрираш и неизбежно пропускаш много неща.

Очаквах например имената на Beatles да се появяват само в една определена глава, а не да се повтарят в почти всяка. Същото се отнася и за Kardashian и Sasha. Това значително усложнява търсенето, без според мен да допринася особено за самото решение.

Не успях и да разбера каква е реалната полза от улика №18, тъй като тя по никакъв начин не ми помогна в разследването. Улика №14 също ме затрудни допълнително, защото информацията в нея не съответстваше на това, което реално открих. Заради това изгубих доста време в търсене на нещо, което в крайна сметка се оказа подвеждащо.

Друго, което можеше да бъде направено по-добре, е системата за подсказки. Освен предварително зададените улики, на практика няма къде да получиш допълнителна помощ. Налага се да издирваш профили на хора, които вече са решили загадката, и да ги молиш за жокер, след което трябва да чакаш отговор. Това донякъде обезсмисля идеята да можеш да решаваш загадката със собствено темпо.

Накрая трябваше да поискам директно подсказка в коя глава се намира убиецът, защото вече бях стигнала до абсолютна психоза от това търсене. Добре че инатът ми е повече от търпението.

Не разбирам и защо на сайта няма директно потвърждение на името на убиеца, а трябва да чакаш отговор. Макар че тук поне трябва да призная, че отговорите им идват бързо.

Като цяло идеята има огромен потенциал и самият формат ми допадна, но можеше да бъде реализиран доста по-добре и най-вече по начин, който да е предизвикателен, без да е толкова изнервящ. След две седмици с тази книга мога съвсем честно да кажа, че никога не бих повторила.

[Kulturowa.Anihilacja]

Książka, która pozwala zabawić mi się w Sherlocka zawsze zyskuje moje uznanie, a gdy rzuca mi wyzwanie typu, pokaż co potrafisz to już całkiem.

Alice znika, w jej mieszkaniu znalezione zostaje ciało, tajemnicza notka i listę pełną podejrzanych, początek niby banalny, a już od samego początku intryguje i daje ten tajemniczy vibe. Alice usilnie przekonuje o swojej niewinności, a ja wraz ze wskazówkami wyruszyłam na detektywistyczne polowanie.

Nie ma tu klasycznego śledztwa, na zasadzie Poirot, że spacerujemy od świadka do świadka, zbieramy poszlaki i brniemy do finału. Tym razem ze mną w roli sprytnej pani detektyw, a każda wskazówka ma olbrzymie znacznie, ponieważ każda zawęża krąg podejrzanych.
Ponad 46 tysięcy podejrzanych muszę przyznać, brzmi nieco absurdalnie i może jakoś odstraszyć, jednak autorka przekuła to w główny atut książki, bo liczba ta staje się głównym elementem zagadki.

Jeśli oczekujecie klasycznego kryminału z rozbudowanymi bohaterami i głębią psychologiczną sprawcy, to może poczuć rozczarowanie, jednak mi książka dała coś lepszego, a mianowicie możliwość dedukowania, rozwiązywania zagadek, co było bardziej wciągające niż się spodziewałam, bo interakcja w śledztwie mimo wszystko jest znacznie lepsza niż samo czytanie o śledztwie.

Trudno też nie krócic uwagi na to, jak książka pompuje ego czytelnika, bo można się poczuć jak hybryda Holmesa, Poirota, Colombo i Hasselhoff, ale tylko na chwilę, by za moment trafić na wskazówkę, która sprawia, że człowiek zaczyna rozumień, że przed momentem dokonał eliminacji podejrzanych według średnio dobrze zrozumianego kryterium.

„Mordercą nie jest Alice” to książka wymykająca się schemat, bo wrzucił mnie na głęboką wodę detektywistycznej pracy, dla mnie okazała się czymś niesamowicie odświeżającym. Podobało się to dla mnie.

[Elizabeth Smith]

This was a fantastic puzzle book and I have to give it 5 stars although I haven't managed to solve it yet. My first guess was wrong yet I was positive I had it right. I didn't read any of the tips beforehand so I actually started out doing this puzzle the loooong way.
I do plan to pick this back up to give it another go once I get over the traumatic stress of my first try.

[Katie]

I’ve done the first edition and the updated edition, and I loved it both times. (And got the killer right on the first guess both times, no big deal, guys.) Even though it’s just a bunch of names, it was a LOT of reading. And so add it, I shall!

[Spencer Hayward]

Very interesting premise. But after reading so many names so many times over and over you get a bit of an eye strain.

[Tori]

Infuriating. In the best way possible

[claire foster]

adhd torture simulator

[Alina]

Niiiceee!! Abia aștept să iasă următoarea 💕💕

[jordan]

Although I cba finishing this, 5 stars because it kept me entertained for days on days and nearly drove me to the brink of insanity. If anyone finds out the killer pls put me out of my misery

[~EJ~]

I refuse to purchase any more highlighters for this book. It was good when the interest was at its peak, but I’m kinda over it now. Hope the killer got justice xx