Whodunit Puzzles: Mysteries for the Super Sleuth to Solve by Tim Dedopulos

Whodunit Puzzles: Mysteries for the Super Sleuth to Solve Reviews

• 
  Bandit

  Ok, well, this was humbling. Turns out in no way am I ready for a career as a detective. Guess I don’t pay enough attention to details and this is all about the details. Every one of the cases offered in this book, written quaintly in a style of golden age mysteries old-timey and all, hinges on details.
  Well, at least the first level cases of which there’s a majority. Once you move on to the second level, it gets more complicated and, frankly, more far-fetched and reliant on supposition and imagination. But with the first level, you just have to really closely read the testimonies.
  It’s a cute book; it features three detectives, two ladies and one scrumptiously named Paddington Parnacki, who solve various cases – mostly murder or theft – through their awesome attention to detail. And the reader gets to play along and see if they can match the dedicated detectives.
  All in all, I had fun with this one. Frustrating sort of ‘grrr, can’t believe I missed that’ sort of fun, but fun all the same. The cases are mostly entertaining and only ever so slightly repetitive. The writing’s surprisingly decent considering that this book technically doesn’t require such a thing.
  Oddly enough, I’m really good at solving traditional contemporary long-form murder mysteries, but not these things. My sleuthing must be more attuned to dark psychology of crime instead of minute details. But either way, fun was had. Thanks Netgalley.
  
  This and more at
  https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
• 
  Thea | (unapologetic_bibliosmia)

  Do you find yourself trying to solve the whodunnits, whydunnits and what happened here's? Miss Marple wannabes and Poirot enthusiasts rejoice! This is a brilliant little compendium of sleuthing puzzles to keep even the most bumbling of detectives entertained, with a host of mysteries to be solved by you - the reader.
  
  Dedopulos keeps things sweet and not-so-simple with these reader solved mysteries. With each one only being a few pages long, it is impossible to get bored of each mystery, and easy to remember all the key points and red herrings required to have a guess at the Mystery.
  
  I really liked the integrated links embedded within the ebook. This meant that I oculd click through to the answer at the end of each mystery which took me directly to that specific puzzle's answer at the back of the book without me having to: A) thumb through to the end of the book; and B) see any of the other puzzle's answers by mistake. I could then click to go back to exactly where I left off. This was very useful and easy to use.
  
  My only niggle is that some of the answers seemed a bit far-fetched and I wasn't sure they were that 'gettable' from the information provided. That being said, I enjoyed the trying to solve these mysteries and haven't seen anything like this before.
  
  Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance copy. My views are entirely my own.
• 
  Danielle

  This book of Whodunit Puzzles is so much fun! Perfect for those who love brain teasers or classic murder mysteries, this book introduces a number of cases and detectives who help introduce the facts and suspects. These are relatively tricky, though I will say with the right knowledge and mindset you should be able to solve the cases! All the info is there!
  Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.
• 
  Emily

  Thank you to NetGalley and Arcturus Publishing for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
  
  It is no secret to anyone who knows me, that I love a good mystery. I may not always piece the jigsaw together correctly, but can normally appreciate the complete picture.
  
  For that reason, I struggled initially with this volume and my attention kept wandering as I tried to parse out the vital clue of each case. There were also a few leaps in logic, which while they made sense, did feel like a stretch until I grew used to the author's style.
  
  For example, in an opening case, a loose bronze grille with "rust" on it is the clue to finding a thief within a hotel. Therefore, the culprit is the only party with injured hands! Why? Because bronze doesn't rust and therefore it must be blood! Where is the lamp they stole amongst other missing items? Broken apparently in order to justify the blood! I found a few issues with this case and others.
  
  There were just too many variables and logic leaps for me to be comfortable solving them. Ironically, by approaching these puzzles as actual cases, I kept overthinking them. In conclusion, this is a solid compendium of 'whodunits' and the increase in complexity, as well as optional hints, makes it a great gift for mystery lovers of all ages.
• 
  Tracy

  Three stars. Wow, this book took me back! When I was little, my library had a series of books just like this for kids, with super-short mysteries. I haven’t thought about them in ages, but as a child, I devoured them, and I know they (along with Alfred Hitchcock’s Three Investigators series and Donald Sobol’s Encyclopedia Brown series) fostered my love of reading mysteries today. Whodunit Mysteries is much the same as those books, with short scenarios presenting the clues necessary to solve the crime. I had fun trying to solve the mysteries, but I felt that while many of the cases were straight-forward, others needed some convoluted jumps of logic to come to the solution which in my opinion made those a little less satisfying. The inclusion of hints was a welcome addition when a little help was needed.
  
  I’m grateful to Arcturus Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Whodunit Puzzles, as well as the nostalgia.
• 
  Melissa

  These short, sweet puzzles will have you scratching your head until you spot the clue! I love whodunits and this is a new volume of the classic puzzle style. One thing this book has that others don't is a hint at the end of each puzzle, if you want the extra help. I would recommend this book to puzzle lovers and mystery fans alike.
• 
  miss.mesmerized mesmerized

  Who doesn’t love to solve a classic murder case? Tim Dedopulos’ “Whodunit Puzzles” offers 47 whodunits on two levels. The first is a collection of 39 short stories, just a couple of pages long with a hint of what to look at to solve the case. The rest are more complex and longer cases that come with more cues. Each puzzle features one of three investigators who are at the scene of crime and conduct the interviews with the suspects.
  
  The puzzles are a great pastime activity that I thoroughly enjoyed. They are short, so you can just integrate one while waiting e.g. for the bus or at the doctor’s. They keep the mind busy as you have to read carefully not to miss the decisive hint. The setting of the stories just like the plots are quite varied and – just like the style of writing - reminded me of books of the Golden Age of Crime. The same is true for the three investigators. Illustrations here and there support the atmosphere of the puzzles.
  
  The lower level puzzles are quite solvable, nevertheless, I didn’t get the right figure all the time, the upper level I found quite challenging. I liked the mysteries as I am a fan of classic crime novels.
  
• 
  Kelly

  The first forty or so “stories” are a page or two long with pictures depicting what is happening. I thought it was great for keeping my mind sharp (which I found it is not as much before bed) but there were some of the challenges I felt were difficult and unfair. There were some instances where more information was revealed with the solution at the end of the book which wasn’t able to make it in my sleuthing of the story, and therefore I was unable to narrow the suspects down to one. These bits of new information were commented as “an assumed clue,” which I wouldn’t mind if they were actually something that can be assumed. An example would be that a character ate a burger as a meal and it’s later revealed that because of this, you can assume they had pie for dessert. There was another one that didn’t tell you that the victim was sitting down which happened to be a very important clue.
  
  The last seven or so “stories” were essentially the same thing, just two to three times longer than the first whodunits. I didn’t find them more or less challenging because again, they were just longer stories.
  
  The writing style was very similar to Agatha Christie’s writing. The language of the characters and the socially acceptable behaviors that are expected from each of them based on their gender, income, and age felt as if they were taken straight from one of her books. That being said, overall it was an okay read. The fact that it was a collection of short puzzles makes it hard to give more of an opinion about the content.
  
• 
  Thus Kvothe The Raven

  Are you a fan of detective stories? Do you think you can solve fictional crimes by your powers of deduction? This book will give you a chance to evaluate your skill at solving mysteries. Dedopulos has included 47 mysteries to solve, with 8 of them being a bit more difficult than the first 39. The solutions are included at the end of the book.
  
  The puzzles are brief and include all the information needed to solve them. They aren’t especially difficult, but the reader does need to pay attention and think through the evidence. Each story has an illustration and one of 3 detectives working within. It pays to read through the puzzle two or three times.
  
  I personally do better with visual puzzles, but I didn’t find these too difficult to solve once I knew how to discern meaningful from meaningless information. They weren’t especially intriguing, probably because the author was economic in his word use.
  
  Three and a half stars for this detective puzzle book. This can stimulate your mind…if you’re patient and observant. My thanks to Arcturus Publishing via Netgalley.
  
  #NetGalley #ArcturusPublishing #WhodunitPuzzles #catsandbookstagram #catsandbooks #booksandcatstagram #booksandcats #ifcatscouldread #mysterycats #puzzlecats #kindlesallthewaydown #katzallthewaydown
• 
  Annie

  A book of brief short story "puzzles" that lets you solve the mystery. A few pages of a story, an investigator announces they know who did it or what happened, and you are supposed to be able to figure it out from the little information provided. I'm not big on short stories in general, and these were very, very short and read more like puzzles than stories, which I guess is the point but the "fun" in this is in the solving, not the reading. The puzzles themselves were anything from "How did the inspector know so-and-so was lying?" to "Which of the suspects is guilty?" Some of them were very obvious and others were almost forced in that they required some assumptions or leaps. Also a minor annoyance was that nearly every person in the book that was murdered was hated by everyone who ever met them, a bit repetitive. This is more something to read a couple quick puzzles here and there rather than to sit and read it straight through. 3 stars.
• 
  Vanessa

  A fun little book to keep the mind moving in an idle moment - not to sound crass, but the mysteries are a great length for, let's say, alone time in the washroom. I'd recommend for adults who grew up loving the Encyclopedia Brown series and, while the mysteries are solvable for younger readers, be warned that some of the mysteries are frank in mentioning domestic violence, prostitution, and drug use. It's very light, but it's definitely there. My one knock is that the solutions for several of the longer mysteries were based on information that is not shared in the short story - in one case YOU LITERALLY ARE NEVER TOLD THE INFORMATION. That frustrates me deeply. That being said, I'd recommend for mystery reader who places value on the puzzle solving and enjoys a burst of serotonin when proven right.
  
  I received an ecopy from the publishers and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  Nancy

  I love mysteries and I love puzzles ! If you do also this book is for you.
  Thanks to Net Galley and Arcturus Publishing for the chance to preview the book and review it.
  The book is so quintessentially British . This really adds to its appeal. It consists of many short mystery vignettes where the reader is presented with the facts of a case, given some hints and asked to answer a query for the case detective. It is organized into short cases which are easier to solve and longer cases. I have to say I enjoyed the short cases the most. This would be best enjoyed by a slow (maybe daily) case to review digest and savor.
  One thing I really loved about the publication were the illustrations.
  For the digital version the ability to tap back and forth from case to hints to solution was great as well.
• 
  Kate

  Who wouldn't love the chance to play detective? If you love a good murder mystery or true crime drama, chances are you will get a kick out of this book. Within it are dozens of cases, just waiting for you to solve the culprit. The cases are short and come in two levels of difficulties.. Clues are included and answers in the back in case you get really stuck. They're short enough that you can read a case over a cup of coffee and solve a bunch of them at once as entertainment on a long journey. The language is a little archaic but once you get used to the style of writing, you're good to go.
  
  Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to review an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  Liz Caldwell

  Crossword puzzles and sudoku move over; Whodunit Puzzles is here. I love activities like these that challenge my mind. This book is a compilation of murder mysteries that will make you feel like all those hours listening to true crime podcasts weren't for nothing. The 47 puzzles will make you use your deductive skills to save the day. Pay close attention to the details. When you think you've solved it, there is a hyperlink to follow to check your answer. I like this because you don't expose yourself to spoilers on any other puzzles. I do with the hints were on a separate page. Overall this is a fun book, and I want to buy a hard copy to share with friends. Whodunit Puzzles will be a fun family activity if you have older kids.
• 
  Kai Maciel

  I want to thank Netgalley and Arcturus Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
  
  The idea of having small cases and giving the reader the choice to guess the solution to the mystery is brilliant. I never saw a book like this. The mysteries are well crafted, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie.
  
  I admit there were several mysteries I was at a loss. Maybe because of the language barrier, as English is not my native language, or maybe because I just suck as a detective. Nevertheless, it was very fun trying to solve these mysteries, rereading the case in search of clues and things that did not add up.
• 
  Danielle D

  This is a book filled with small mysteries and puzzles that read like Agatha Christie novels. My husband and I are big fans of crime shows/novels so when I saw this book I knew we were going to love it. We would read a puzzle together, think and discuss. Who doesn’t love a little competition and coffee in the morning?
  
  I definitely will buy this book for my fellow mystery lovers. We thoroughly enjoyed the puzzles, which were quick, entertaining and had us using our deduction skills.
  
  I want to thank NetGalley, Tim Dedopulos and Arcturus Publishing for the e-ARC of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are honest, my own and left voluntarily.
• 
  Katy Crowe

  This is a really clever idea for a book and crime fans will really enjoy it. I got about 50% of the puzzles correct, so it’s probably pitched at the right level.
  
  By the end I was getting a bit bored of the format, was my only criticism. It started to feel a bit repetitive. I suspect it would be a fun book to read with a friend or as a family as I think figuring out the clues as a team would be more enjoyable.
• 
  Nicole

  I love puzzles and games and couldn't wait to get into this. While it's not a book I could spend hours on in one sitting, I definitely enjoyed it during bursts of downtime. It could also work as a fun group or class activity. I find at times I could guess the killer but my reasoning wasn't the reasoning of the book, which made for interesting revelations. It does get repetitive at times but still I enjoyed it overall. I absolutely recommend!
• 
  Hazel

  What a fun book. I really enjoyed reading the murder mystery puzzles and working out who did it... or not in my case!! Don't think I'm the next Miss Marple!!!
  
  I really enjoyed the fact that you didn't need to flick back and forward like I have done on previous digital books to find the solution, there was a fast link between the puzzles and the solutions.
  
  Thanks to Arcturus and Netgalley for my ARC Copy. My review is my own opinion.
• 
  Jessica Gilbert

  Working my way through these puzzles had me on the edge of my seat.
  
  The stories associated with each mystery are beautifully written and the details that you need to figure out who actually did it are imposed in the characters in such a way that you need to be paying attention the most minute details.
  
  Overall really enjoyed spending some time working through these with my daughter. And letting my mind puzzle them out in the evening after work.
• 
  Leyla Johnson

  An interesting book and looked like a bit of fun for all would be detective book solvers. Whilst I did enjoy some of the short stories in the book.
  I found there was not enough information included to be fair. I did get some right, especially in the start which were straight forward. Some of the later ones, the explanation where a bit more involved than stated.
• 
  Dirty Dayna

  maybe its me and I am not smart enough for any of these? I felt these were very old cases so the language was too hard for me to understand. I didn't get any of the stories or clues and even when it gave the answer i went back and didnt get it.. so maybe this is for you but it wasnt for me.
• 
  Annarella

  It was a lot of fun and I think it would be great to solve the puzzles in a groups.
  It's a bit repetitive at times but I liked it.
  Recommended.
  Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine