Review By Ronny
Can You Solve the Murder? is a fun and addictive interactive murder mystery that will test your detective skills.
Book Synopsis:
Step into the shoes of a detective and investigate the most mysterious crime of your career.
There’s been a murder at Elysium, a wellness retreat set in an English country manor. You arrive to find the body of a local businessman on the lawn – with a rose placed in his mouth. It appears he was stabbed with a gardening fork and fell to his death from the balcony above. But that balcony can only be accessed through a locked door, the key is missing, and everyone in Elysium is now a suspect…
Gather the evidence and examine the clues. Choose who to interview next, and who to accuse as your prime suspect. But remember that every decision you make has consequences – and some of them will prove fatal…
Do you have what it takes? Can YOU solve the murder?
Review:
I was instantly intrigued by this book. As a kid, I missed out on those choose-your-own-adventure books, so when we were pitched this book, I knew I needed to read it. If you have ever yelled at the TV or at a character in a book because they were missing an obvious clue or going after the wrong suspect, then this book is for you. In this book, you choose the direction the story goes in. You are the one to choose what lead to follow, who to interview, and what next steps the detectives will take. Overall, I enjoyed this book. The writing is very clean-cut, and what I mean by this is that the dialogue and descriptions aren’t excessive. The author gets to the point quickly, and although the scenery is described, it’s brief and to the point. I liked that about this book because it ensured that I wasn’t bogged down with too many unnecessary details and allowed me to laser in on any clues that may be hiding in the text.
The mystery was interesting and had numerous possibilities when it came to the direction you could take in trying to figure out who the murderer was. The author introduces numerous twists that can trip up readers when they are trying to figure out which leads to follow. I really do have to give the author a standing ovation because organizing this book would be no simple job. You cannot read this book in order because if you did, it wouldn’t make any sense. After all, when you finish each section, you have instructions telling you what section to read next. Sometimes, the direction you take depends on the clues you have gathered or the person you want to interview. I lucked out; I had a hunch… ok, more like a feeling on who the murderer was, and I was right, thank god. Because if you follow a trail of clues that leads you to the wrong suspect, then you have to start back at the beginning. So, choose wisely because having to continuously start over would get pretty frustrating.
I really enjoyed the interactive nature of this book. It was a fun way to spend my Saturday. I loved the feeling of excitement when I made a major breakthrough in the case, and I just had to keep going because I wanted to see where it would take me. If you are looking for a cozy mystery to just sit back and enjoy, then this book won’t be for you. This book does put you to work, especially when you have to decode secret messages and my god, that was a pain in the butt.
Can You Solve the Murder? is a fun, cozy murder mystery that challenges you to test your detective skills.
Thank you, Penguin Random House Canada, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
