Murder at the chessboard : & 43 other perplexing whodunit puzzlers to test your crime-solving skills

by P.T. Houdunitz

This mind-bending collection of five-minute mysteries, packed with clues and solved at the back of the book, is an armchair detective's dream-come-true. It's like 43 rousing games of "Clue" in short-story form-and what could be more fun than that? These engaging puzzlers test readers' crime-solving skills by presenting stories of robbery, fraud, espionage and murder, replete with all the clues needed to unravel them. But never fear-frustrated sleuths will find solutions tucked away at the back, along with lots of crime-solving tips. This entertaining volume that can be savored or devoured, sampled or read straight through until morning. More than 100 amusing illustrations accompany the mysteries.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2001

Reviews

[Rusty · Rating 4 out of 5]

a good read for mystery lovers

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Murder at the Chessboard is a collection of short murder mysteries of no more than a few pages each. The reader is invited to come up with a solution to the crime, and then check the solution key in the back of the book. The difficulty level ranges from decoding simple contradictory statements to considerably more complex cases.

I seem to recall liking "Encyclopedia" Brown books a lot more when I was a kid.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for Encyclopedia Brown for grown-ups, and for the most part, that's what I got. But the puzzles get harder as you go on--not a bad thing, but some of them are so convoluted and difficult that it's really quite absurd.

[Doreen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a terrible book of brain teasers, though some cases were more circumstantial than others.