Crime Puzzles

The Heritage Hall book fair was my chance to showcase my bookbinding techniques. Instead, I become the main suspect in a murder. Paper flowers and leather bindings filled my Heritage Hall book fair booth. This was my chance to showcase traditional bookbinding techniques. Instead, I found a dead authenticator in my space. Mark Henderson, known for exposing forgeries, lay sprawled among tools stolen from my exhibit. Making me the prime suspect. Book preservation is my passion - being a murder suspect, not so much. I teamed up with Fitzgerald, my Maine Coon cat and journalist Jennifer Walsh to...

When a flamboyant local celebrity is framed for murder in her peaceful English village, Judith knows she should keep her head down. After all, a quiet retirement was the plan. But with a past as colourful as hers, she might be the only person who can unravel this deadly puzzle. There's just one problem: the charming DS Raymond Collins and the razor-sharp DC Sarah Eastly are getting a little too curious about the mysterious new retiree in their midst. And Judith's got more than a few secrets she'd rather keep buried... From garden parties to hidden bodies, this deliciously twisted cozy ...

Sweet Delights bakery owner Maggie Thompson never imagined she'd be serving up murder alongside her famous butter cookies and chocolate cakes. But when her young apprentice turns up dead in the kitchen and Maggie is pegged as the prime suspect, she's thrown into a real-life mystery that's far darker than anything she's ever whipped up. To clear her name and catch the real killer, Maggie must dig into the secrets buried in her once-idyllic hometown of Sugarville. With the help of her clever cat Detective Whiskers, charming baking buddy Tony and a sprinkle of sugar-fueled magic, Maggie ...

When Victor Kensington, heir to one of the wealthiest fortunes in Cedar Grove, drops dead at the glamorous Midnight Masquerade, whispers of foul play ripple through the grand estate. The Kensington family’s wealth and secrets are a dangerous combination, and everyone in attendance is a suspect. Lila Harrington, a local innkeeper and amateur sleuth, is no stranger to mystery. She can’t resist the call to uncover the truth hidden behind the family’s gilded facade. As secrets unravel and connections to a missing heirloom emerge, Lila is drawn into the glittering yet treacherous world of ...

Sisters Sage and Summer Dixon have turned The Novel Brew into Riverbend, Montana’s go-to spot for books, coffee, and community. But when their beagle, Brody, finds a bloodied napkin under a table, their cozy world is upended. Moments later, a shaken Deputy Emily Harper arrives with shocking news—Lillian Barrett, a dear friend of the sisters, has been found dead. Determined to uncover the truth, Sage and Summer dive into the investigation, only to discover that beneath Riverbend’s charming exterior lies a tangled web of secrets, betrayals, and long-buried grudges. As the sisters piece ...

Cedar Grove is abuzz with excitement as the Halloween Festival draws near, but for Lila Harrington, owner of the Harrington Inn, the holiday takes a chilling turn. Strange creaks echo from the empty upper floors, shadowy figures flit through the halls, and a mysterious history of tragic lovers haunts the property. When one of her guests is found dead under suspicious circumstances, Lila’s unease turns to determination. With her best friend Jane by her side and her clever beagle Barkley sniffing out clues, Lila dives into a mystery that blurs the lines between the supernatural and the all-...

Lily and Grace Garrison, and their trusty beagle Rocky, are ready for a relaxing getaway. When their friend Daniel Farnsworth invites them to Oakwood Pastures, a prestigious equestrian estate he’s heavily invested in. But their vacation takes a dark turn when a champion horse dies under suspicious circumstances, followed by a string of sabotage incidents, during a high-stakes equestrian championship. With the stable’s reputation—and owner Malcolm’s fortune—on the line, tensions run high. Is someone trying to ruin Oakwood Pastures from the inside, or is there a more sinister motive...

DCI Jack Collier is slowly recovering from the pain and embarrassment of spending time locked up in Durham prison for a murder he did not commit whilst his team wait less than patiently for him to return to normal. But a call from pathologist Dr Gordon Crosby, inviting him and DS Oliver Cole to look into the suspicious death by poison of an elderly pensioner in the small village of New Hartley in Northumberland, sets the team on the hunt for a cold and calculating killer, brings matters crashing back to normality. The mystery of the death proves difficult to resolve and is further ...

As the title implies this book involves the completion of a jigsaw puzzle. The pieces are the suspects in a murder case and the reader has to decide who is the final piece in order to discover the identity of the culprit. But nothing is quite what it seems for, as the story unfolds, it soon becomes apparent that the reader is being given assistance to complete the puzzle by … the murderer. The new owner of the house has almost finished clearing out the loft space when he sees the insulation lagging is loose near the eves. As he attempts to replace it he finds a jigsaw puzzle box hidden ...

When amiable old village eccentric Quentin Andrews dies, the good folk of Cherringham are astonished at the crowd that turns up to his funeral. But even more astonished are the beneficiaries of his will: Quentin has left a veritable fortune to whomever is the first to solve an intricate "Cherringham crossword". That puzzle is only the first of many that Jack and Sarah will uncover as they follow the treasure hunt for clues and learn the truth about who Quentin Andrews really was... and the biggest mystery of them al... was he - in fact - murdered?

Murder Among Heirs When the wealthy and enigmatic Walter Farnsworth, a pharmaceutical tycoon, brings his family to Turtle Cove for a getaway at the Willowrose Inn, the picturesque coastal town braces for a storm—both literally and figuratively. Walter’s hidden motives come to light when his favored heir, daughter Alexandra, is found dead as a fierce tempest rages outside. Suspicion falls on the troubled Farnsworth clan, each with secrets worth killing for. Inn owners Grace and Lily Garrison find themselves entangled in the mystery as the family’s dark history surfaces. With tensions ...

This first crime novel written by Alan Fisher is not a story of brutal murders and mutilated bodies. His gentle story is more of a puzzle where readers are asked to look at the evidence shared throughout the book and find the killer before their identity is revealed. June 2014. Oliver Cole graduates from Hendon Police College as a Detective Constable and heads off to his choice of posting to Northumbria Police in the North East of England. Cole is a shy but highly regarded new recruit with a talent for puzzle solving; from his first day he comes under the instructional wing of long-serving ...

A luxurious beach resort, a missing friend, and secrets to die for. Emily Parker, meticulous bookbinder and amateur sleuth, thought a getaway to Azure Bay Resort would be the perfect escape from solving mysteries. But paradise quickly turns perilous when her best friend, investigative journalist Jenny Walsh, vanishes without a trace, leaving behind only a treasured pen near the murdered resort owner, Blake Montgomery. Accompanied by her intuitive Maine Coon, Fitzgerald, Emily teams up with Josh Reynolds, a charming local artist whose gallery hides clues as expressive as his paintings. The ...

Detective Constable Oliver Cole has his period of annual leave interrupted when he finds out that Lancashire Police have requested that he travels to Lancashire to assist them with a difficult case. An actor had been murdered at The Midland Hotel in Morecambe in particularly mysterious circumstances having drank a glass of champagne laced with cyanide. The officer in charge, DCI Dominic Wilson, had previously received a warning that someone was about to die and that it would be the first of seven deaths, but the warning had been dismissed by him as a crank. The discovery of a second clue in...

Detective Constable Oliver Cole has returned home after helping Lancashire Police solve a series of murders in Morecambe to find that his reputation as a puzzle solver is growing. Under pressure from Superintendent Fox, Oliver agrees to stage a week-long puzzle solving course for final year Hendon College graduates, showing them how he looks at the types of clues he’s had to deal with and setting some puzzle solving problems for the class. But minutes before the first session is held, the body of a young woman is fished out of the River Tyne. Torn between the responsibility of running the...

Successful attorney Larry Scott checks his watch and realizes that he is still working in his law office at four minutes past midnight which means that Larry has just turned sixty years of age while chained to his desk. He is disgusted with his workaholic ways and decides right then and there to retire from the Indianapolis law firm where he has toiled for his entire thirty-five year legal career. Larry has no idea that a bizarre set of circumstances will soon have him sorting through cryptic clues to solve three very old murders back in his home town of Vevay, Indiana. Can Larry make the ...

When renowned historian Dr. Blake vanishes without a trace, B&B owner and amateur sleuth, Lila Harrington stumbles upon the mystery of a lifetime. With her loyal beagle, Barkley, and gossipy best friend, Jane, Lila dives headfirst into the investigation. As the trio unravels the clues—strange ledgers, cryptic symbols, and shady deals—they soon discover that those closest may not be who they seem. What begins as a simple inquiry into the missing scholar, spirals into a web of deception, hidden motives, and long-buried secrets tied to an ancient artifact with unimaginable power. With help...

Hiram Gottschalk, owner of the Palm Beach shop Parrots Unlimited, fears for his life. First, he finds a photo of himself and his deceased wife slashed to ribbons; then, a Mass card with his name on it is taped inside of his closet door; now, someone has wrung the neck of his beloved pet bird. In desperation, he turns to McNally & Son for a private investigation. McNally meets with Gottschalk, along with his client's cursing parrot.

In Willowbrook, an ancient artifact has been uncovered—one that could reshape the world. When the town's seamstress, Agnes, is mysteriously killed, her apprentice, Clara, finds herself entangled in a web of lies, magic, and a centuries-old conflict threatening Willowbrook. Guided by Agnes's ghost and her loyal cat Whiskers, Clara must unravel Willowbrook's occult past and confront a ruthless order seeking the artifact's power. As Clara digs deeper, she realizes the true danger may come from her own allies, testing her trust. With time running short, Clara must draw on her family's ...

"OH No! How could this happen?" Meggie gets off the phone with the Museum. "The heirloom has vanished without a trace." Meggie, owner of the Willow Inn, was thrilled when Ms. Wren of the Museum asked to display her family's cherished heirloom. But now this! "I don't understand?" Meggie thought out loud, just as she and her loyal beagle, Bentley, were gearing up for the Harvest Festival. Now, Meggie must navigate a tangled web of deceit, suspense, and intrigue to find her family's lost heirloom. Little does she know this heirloom holds the key to a puzzling mystery. As Willow Creek's past ...