It’s January and that means it’s National Puzzle Month! We’re giving you a month of puzzle reviews. We’ll be covering all kinds of puzzles, so make sure you subscribe to our newsletter so you can link directly to the reviews. Today, we’re covering two puzzles books: Pierre The Maze Detective: The Search for the Stolen Maze Stone from Laurence King and 5-Minute Murder from Greenfinch, an imprint of Quercus Books.
Pierre The Maze Detective: The Search for the Stolen Maze Stone by Hiro Kamigaki & IC4DESIGN is the first in a series of puzzles books (for ages 8 and up) that follow Pierre the Maze Detective through various scenes, chasing Mr. X, who has stolen the Maze Stone. Each chapter involves a new maze scene to solve as Pierre tracks Mr. X through various neighborhoods. In each neighborhood there are extra challenges. Find the hidden yellow stars, red trophies, and red and green treasure chests, plus a variety of items that differ for each neighborhood, and a special challenge from Mr. X. You might have the traditional, lined maze in mind, but these mazes are more abstract, following paths up and down streets and ladders and staircases, around people, animals, and things. Don’t get too lost in the mazes, though. Be sure to enjoy the illustrations in all their intricate glory. And when you finish The Search for the Stolen Maze Stone, you can work your way through the rest of the series, which is at five books and counting.
https://www.amazon.com/Pierre-Maze-Detective-Search-Stolen/dp/1780675631
٭٭٭٭٭Recommended
5-Minute Murder by Christopher J. Yates and Bruce Pitchers is a series of mystery stories that require you to solve puzzles to get to help the detectives find the perpetrators. There are ten different stories and each story has ten puzzles. You can solve nearly all of the puzzles without reading the story, but the stories are engaging, fun, and very helpful in solving the puzzles that include the information tucked into them, so don’t skip a word! There are gridded and gridless logic puzzles, sukoku and futoshiki puzzles, word puzzles, and more, with several pages at the end of the book for taking notes and practicing solutions. And don’t worry if you don’t know how to solve a particular type of puzzles. There are instructions and examples to help you along. This book is perfect for when you don’t have a lot of time, because each of the puzzles should take about 5 minutes to solve. I’m hooked and am on chapter 5 already!
https://www.amazon.com/Minute-Murder-addictive-mystery-puzzles/dp/1529440890/
٭٭٭٭٭Highly Recommended
Another favorite puzzle book is one we’ve previously reviewed: Laurence King’s The Official Agatha Christie Puzzle Book. Check out that review here. Next up will be a jigsaw puzzle review for a puzzle that is perfect for families.
Spoiler alert! ٭٭٭٭٭Highly Recommended
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