The Official Agatha Christie Puzzle Book

by Agatha Christie Limited

Can you work out whodunnit, with what and why, like Marple and Poirot? Put your armchair detective abilities to the ultimate test.

Do you have the flair, order and method of Poirot, or the unassuming, shrewd intelligence of Miss Marple? You're going to need it...

Welcome to Greenway, Agatha Christie's beloved home in the English countryside. A place of rest and relaxation, it is also where she loves to read her latest mystery to guests. And on your visit to Greenway, a mystery is afoot. A body has been found and only you can solve the puzzle. Who is the victim and what has befallen them?

With the murderous culprit leaving behind the most perplexing puzzles to solve, clues are scattered throughout the house and grounds. With 100 puzzles to dive into, can you solve the mystery, following the trail in the home of the Queen of Crime?

Brush off your moustache, collect your knitting needles and put your little grey cells to good use with this puzzling series of events. From logic puzzles to choose your own adventure, from word searches and missing word games, immerse yourself in the world of Agatha Christie.

Genres: Mystery, Agatha Christie, Puzzles, Nonfiction

232 pages, Paperback

Published November 12, 2024

About the author

Agatha Christie Limited (ACL) has been managing the literary and media rights to Agatha Christie's works around the world since 1955. Collaborating with the very best talents in film, television, publishing, stage and on digital platforms ACL ensures that Christie’s work continues to reach new audiences in innovative ways and to the highest standard.

The company is managed by Christie’s great grandson James Prichard.

Reviews

[Manon (mysterymanon)]

DNF (for now, at least)

Really cute concept, good variety of puzzles, but I thought too many of them were unfair. For example, one assumes you know French—not a problem for me but not exactly fair play for all readers, right?!

The instructions are lacking and I found myself flipping back and forth to the answers just so I could understand what I was supposed to do.

Maybe I’m too dumb for this book?! I don’t know. I just wasn’t getting any joy from these.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

možda je glupo ovo da ocenjujem, ali kad je već uneto na sajt... dajem 5⭐ zbog nostalgije i ideje, mada ima teških zagonetki (npr. za jednu treba da znate francuski, druge su slabašno objašnjene, a treće zahtevaju da ste friško pročitali knjige, što je i fer!), i nisam baš bila oduševljena onom "među" pričom kroz pisma, ali jeste u duhu Agate pa i to razumem! jako simpatično i super poklon za nekoga ko tek otkriva njene romane.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent collection of puzzles that engage the "little grey cells." They are all tied to some of Agatha Christie's most famous works which is a treat for any fan. And there is a mystery alongside the puzzles as well. All in all, I spent a very enjoyable few hours completing these and highly recommend it to any Agatha Christie fan.

[Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gift from Lynne | Not everyone speaks French, publishers!!! | Lots of great puzzles here, some require having read the Christie novels and some don't. But some are simply impossible if you don't know French, which is ridiculous, and there's poor instruction and a distinct lack of introduction. There is an underlying simple "story" about why the puzzles exist, but the first mention of it is at the end of the first chapter. The book should have had an intro at the beginning, instead of having "100 puzzles & a killer mystery to unravel" on the cover, and then straight into the puzzles with no explanation. Cryptic Crosswords, though, which I love.

[Blue Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ci sono tantissime citazioni ai romanzi, i giochi sono ben fatti e divertenti.
P.S.: ho l’edizione italiana che non esiste su Goodreads :/

[burgundowezycie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeśli właśnie przeciągacie się w fotelu z myślą, że świat nie oferuje Wam już żadnych porządnych zagadek do rozwikłania, to mam dla Was wiadomość lepszą niż telegram z Baker Street: „Świat zagadek Agathy Christie” to nie książka – to przestępstwo w pięknej oprawie.

Brzmi jak klasyczna sprawa dla Poirota? Otóż nie. Tym razem to my musimy przygładzić wąsy (nawet jeśli są wyłącznie metaforyczne), założyć ciepły sweter (lub dziergać go jak panna Marple), i najważniejsze – uruchomić swoje małe szare komórki… Bo bez nich nie ruszymy dalej niż do pierwszej wykreślanki.

Ten retro-kryminalny zestaw zadań to coś więcej niż tylko „książka do myślenia”. To pełnoprawne śledztwo w kartkowej formie – 100 zadań ukrytych w bibliotecznych zakamarkach, które nie tylko testują naszą cierpliwość, ale również trochę naszą godność (szczególnie gdy czwarty raz próbujesz ułożyć krzyżówkę i jedyne słowo, które Ci wychodzi to „zbrodnia”).

Co tu znajdziemy? Wszystko, od prostych łamigłówek dla początkujących detektywów po zagadki, które sprawiają, że mózg paruje szybciej niż czajnik u pani Hudson. Dodajmy do tego smaczki z uniwersum Christie – subtelne nawiązania do spraw Poirota i panny Marple – i mamy gotowy przepis na literacką ucztę. Fabularnie? Tajemnica zaginięcia bibliotekarki wciąga niczym dobrze zaparzony earl grey – choć przyznam, że chciałoby się trochę więcej tego wątku. Zbrodnia z odrobiną więcej dramatyzmu? O, tak!

Wizualnie książka również trzyma poziom – retro oprawa, zapach papieru i klasyczny urok jak z notesu Sherlocka Holmesa. A że nie jest to część jubileuszowej kolekcji? Cóż, nawet panna Marple nie nosiła zawsze najlepszych kapeluszy, a i tak rozwiązywała sprawy szybciej niż policja zdążyła zrobić sobie kawę.

Nawet osoby, które znają Agathę Christie głównie z popkulturowych odniesień, znajdą tu coś dla siebie. Zagadki wciągają na tyle, że łatwo zgubić wieczór i zapomnieć o herbacie parującej obok. Mózg szybko przechodzi w tryb awaryjny, a satysfakcja z rozwiązania choćby jednej z łamigłówek jest większa niż po przypomnieniu sobie hasła do Netflixa.

Werdykt? Zdecydowanie warto dać się wciągnąć!

„Świat zagadek Agathy Christie” to książka, która nie daje się przeczytać „na raz”… i całe szczęście! To pozycja do dawkowania, delektowania się i wciągania jak najlepszy kryminał z nutą humoru i odrobiną frustracji, kiedy już po raz trzeci nie możesz rozwiązać tej przeklętej łamigłówki z literkami.

Polecam wszystkim miłośnikom Christie, miłośnikom zagadek, miłośnikom… no cóż, myślenia. Ale też tym, którzy chcą choć przez chwilę poczuć się jak prawdziwy detektyw. Bez narażania życia, ale z pewnym ryzykiem: zniknięcia z życia społecznego na kilka wieczorów.

Dziękuję za zaufanie i egzemplarz do recenzji od @wydawnictwo_dolnoslaskie @agathachristiepolska (współpraca reklamowa) 🩷.

[Zarina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review on my blog: https://www.pagetostagereviews.com/20...

I'm a big fan of Agatha Christie's incredibly clever detective stories, featuring wonderful characters such as the Belgian who employs his little grey cells through to the elderly Miss Marple, who is so often overlooked and underestimated but it far more observant than the often quite dim-witted local police force. At the heart of all of Christie's murder mysteries there is always a puzzle to uncover "whodunnit". More often than not I manage to solve just some of the clues along the way, while hopelessly falling for red herrings in the process and still being utterly flabbergasted at the final reveal.

The Official Agatha Christie Puzzle Book was a similar experience for me. Its wealth of different brain teasers means there's something that will suit everyone's unique deducting skills. At the same time, it also means that some of them went over my head – and I'll have to return to them to see if I am able to crack the code with fresh eyes. (Thankfully, if I really become at my wit's end, the book does also include the solutions at the every back.)

That said, I really did enjoy employing my own "little grey cells" throughout and discovering so many different types of puzzles I had never come across before. There is such a wonderful variety that if one page doesn't catch a reader's fancy, they can simply flick through to the next for an entirely different experience. And, each is of course peppered with iconic Agatha Christie references, from book titles to characters to locations. A real treat for avid fans of the Queen of Crime.

The Official Agatha Christie Puzzle Book is the the perfect way to while away some time this festive season – especially that no-man's land between Christmas and New Year's! Yes, it's a wonderful gifting option for any literary and/or crime lovers, but let's be honest: this one you'd really want to treat yourself to. After all, it's better to crack your brain solving some fictional murders on the page, than commit one in real life after one too many games of Monopoly with the family...

[Siobhain · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am about to start this review with a controversial take, while I follow historism views when it comes to novels I do acknowledge for all her accomplishments Agatha Christie did have a few problematic, if not historically accepted at the times, issues with her writing. Not least the title to one of her novels. That said it is hard to not think of Western detective and crime fiction and not think of Christie or Doyle. And despite admitting she did have some faults I grew up enjoying the dramatizations of her works and later reading some of them. So when I learned there was going to be an official puzzle book I was excited to try it.

Needless to say it’s fantastic. I will say I am still making my way through this with the help of my crime loving mother. Not that she is a criminal but rather loves crime novels and true crime! These puzzles are testing but most of all fun and fit perfectly into the world of Agatha Christie’s protagonists. There is at least one puzzle so far that did need understanding of French and while I am no where near fluent thanks to my GCSE and mostly Herge’s Tintin I had enough knowledge to help me through!

This is a must for any fan of Christie but also fans of puzzles, riddles and games while enjoy it just as much. A perfect Christmas gift since friends and family can help (or bicker about the clues) and solve it all together.

As always thank you to Random Things Book Tours for the copy to review, my reviews are always honest and freely given.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve always been a lover of Agatha’s books and as a teenager collected the full set of over 70 paperback novels which I still have plus the more recent Harper Collins hardbacks. I couldn’t resist the chance to review this puzzle book and to see how my little grey cells matched up!

The first thing to say about this book is how good it looks. The paper thickness of the pages is of a perfectly acceptable quality and the book looks really attractive with its gold foil on the covers and gold spine. It also has a double flap at both ends with gold coloured end papers. It would make an excellent Christmas gift.

Throughout the 240 pages, nine of the Christie mysteries are featured, these are listed on the contents page and include The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Death on the Nile and Murder on the Orient Express. There are 100 puzzles set around the books including crosswords, cryptic codes, logic, word ladders, and anagrams, all ranging from simple wordsearches (I love a wordsearch) to the more difficult puzzles. If like me, you struggled with any, all the answers are contained at the back (phew!).

There is enough content here to keep you entertained and pondering for hours. I’ve completed a few puzzles for this review but I’m saving this for my Christmas entertainment. Definitely recommended for any Christie/puzzle fan.

[Tissie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cover: I like it!

Five stars books make for an interesting experience. They’re great if you’re a reader—what’s better than a book you thoroughly enjoyed?—and a bit complicated if you’re a reviewer. After all, there’s only so much praises you can type before they start getting repetitive.

Let’s see how well I’ll do today!

As I already revealed, The Official Agatha Christie Puzzle Book has been a delight. With its interactive format, I had a lot of fun in solving the puzzles, putting clues together, and figuring out what was going on. A puzzle book, as in, with word games? you say? Yeah! From the first page on, you’ll be finding hidden words, filling blanks, decoding messages, and so on. It sounds easy enough, right? Well :D at times you might get stuck as it happened to me, that’s true, but fear not. The solutions are at the end of the book (I peeked now and then, too)

It’s so clever, and so intricate!

There’s no ground to nitpick anything about The Official Agatha Christie Puzzle Book, truly. The only advice I feel like giving readers is to grab a physical copy. It’s a bit messy to solve puzzles on an e-book.

5 stars on GR.

[Alyson Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book jam packed with puzzles of all kinds – crosswords, word searches, anagrams, logic puzzles and much more besides, all based around nine of Agatha Christie’s best known mystery stories. There’s plenty there to test the most ardent puzzler, ranging from fairly simple to some which will really exercise those little grey cells. No need to worry though as all the answers are listed at the end of the book! In addition, interspersed there are letters from Charles to his Aunt Mary as he takes up a post at Greenaway, Ms Christie’s former home but finds the current librarian is missing! What she has left behind, however, is a bundle of puzzles and he sets about solving them. More letters and parcels of puzzles appear throughout the book as Charles follows the trail of the missing librarian. Each time there’s one that Charles cannot solve and once the reader has solved each one of these, the solutions form the answer to whodunnit! Hours of fun in a great selection of brain teasers and a mystery to solve which should appeal to Agatha Christie fans, puzzlers and crime fiction fans alike.

[Angi Plant · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and its variety of puzzles. Because each puzzle is separate and done in various styles, you feel you can take your time going through them if you want to. This would I imagine be a fun activity for over Christmas, when the hustle and bustle is over is done.
It’s set out in a really interesting format and the book is decorated beautifully. There has been a lot of thought gone into the design of the interior and exterior of this book. It’s a mini work of art in itself.
If you do get really stuck the answers are at the back, but if you know your Christie stories then you’re likely to be fine without. It’s a really lovely book that I would recommend and some puzzles leaned towards being a group activity if you wanted to do that, but are just as good if you’re hiding away with a puzzle book to escape Christmas mania! Either way it’s a cracking book. A perfect gift for any Christie fan.
With thanks to Anne Cater and the publisher for the advanced reading copy of this book.

[Lareen Rahil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've always been a curious kid, and I absolutely love puzzles. What's not to love when the puzzles revolve around novels and their characters?

This collection contains around 100 puzzles of various types – including word searches, logic puzzles, anagrams, crosswords, and more – all themed around Agatha Christie's works and characters.

It's absolutely packed with references to her novels, characters, and settings.
Cleverly, the puzzle book incorporates a narrative thread. You're presented with a mystery at Agatha Christie's former home, Greenway – a missing librarian – and solving the puzzles helps you unravel the case. This adds an extra layer of engagement beyond just solving individual puzzles.
I loved doing it, although there were a few puzzles where I relied on the solutions to understand them. 😅

It's a must-have for anyone who loves to solve puzzles and has read Agatha Christie's novels.

[Nadine-Sue Sargent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Agatha Christie's books are very much loved and still widely read today. The brainteasers in her whodunnits are now transformed into a collection of puzzles. There's such a wide variety of puzzles in this book that there's something for every type of puzzler.

I opened this up on a wet and windy Sunday afternoon having lost my voice a few days prior and so abandoned hope of leaving the house. Instead, I curled up in my PJs and made a start on these. They do get your brain working and I spent a good hour or so on working through a handful of puzzles. Definitely something I can pick up and put down. They're good fun and I think this book is a must for Christie fans and those who love a good brain teaser

[Lynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. I’m a bit of a puzzle nerd and this is perfect. A good mix of simple, not so simple and hard puzzles most loosely based on an Agatha Christie/crime theme. I haven’t finished it yet but I’m over halfway through. It’s the perfect book to pick up when you have a spare 10 minutes or just fancy a little break that will test your ‘little grey cells’!

The puzzles are varied from word searches to crossword puzzles there really is something for everyone as you try to solve the crime. This is the puzzle book I didn’t know I needed. It’s the perfect gift for any puzzler or Agatha Christie fan and if like me you are both, result! Very enjoyable and entertaining.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like Agatha Christie mysteries and imagine yourself a bit of a sleuth yourself, then you are in for a treat! This book was made for you.

It is a delightful collection of puzzles and conundrums all wrapped together in a mystery for the reader to solve.

Nine chapters worth, each based around titles by Agatha Christie, like Chapter 7: ‘Death on the Nile’
Within each chapter are ten separate puzzles, word searches, logic puzzles, secret codes, puzzle pieces, cryptic crosswords and more.

I loved immersing myself in this book and spending time trying to solve the mysteries. Delightfully set out and a great gift for Agatha Christie enthusiasts!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a huuuuuuuge Christie fan, so when I received this puzzle book for Christmas I was FLOORED! Honestly there were some fantastic puzzles as well as a bunch that felt super hit-and-miss for me. I think the book would've been better to pair as you are reading the individual books, because as some puzzles are more thematic (think a logic puzzle set on a train for Murder on the Orient Express) others included the *actual* characters, meaning you had to be up on the story as you read it. Some truly made no sense to me (like "divide this plot into equal sizes), so because it was so hit and miss it gets the middle-of-the-road 3 from me.

[Julie P · Rating 2 out of 5]

A puzzle book that gets its own puzzles wrong? This is the book for you.

There were puzzles that I could see were off the minute I saw them- for example a puzzle that required you to fit 4 different words in a word square. The word SNOW must be used. The first square offered four words, none of which included SNOW.

The next box offered 4 words, two of which included SNOW.

If you think this isn’t a big deal then you aren’t a puzzle solver.

Many of the other puzzles just had perplexing instructions that were too vague and/or brief that truly afforded me no assistance in solving the puzzle. This happened multiple times.

It was a very disappointing $22.

[Hannah Symonds · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have never read any of Agatha Christies books but I will be after receiving this book, it is brilliant packed full of puzzles, crosswords and word searches. There is something for everyone and it is a nice sized book to get stuck into. I found there is different levels to the puzzles, some are easy and they get more harder but I like a challenge. A great book to complete with a friend or just for yourself to help with your brain exercises. Would make a great gift and the cover is stunning.

[Mehsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haven't done all the puzzles yet, but boy this is fun. And vexing, haha. Some of the puzzles have me puzzled. Some I definitely need help of either a puzzle dictionary or the internet (not just to figure things out with normal stuff but also Agatha Christie stuff as I haven't read all the books / forgotten the ones I did read). I love the stories in between the chapters!

Recommended if you love puzzles and Agatha Christie!

[Kristina Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Official Agatha Christie Puzzle Book is a delight for armchair sleuths. I love all the different types of puzzles in the book. Of course, there are clues to help me solve a mystery. The solution to each puzzle is at the back of the book. As a fan of Agatha Christie, I enjoyed this book of puzzles. It was a great way to spend a rainy afternoon.

[Kiersti · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun puzzle book. I liked some of them more than others. I think it would be extra fun to read the book while doing the corresponding puzzles. Some things I had to google because I didn’t remember. Overall would recommend!

[Lauren Schwarzentraub · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this as a gift from a friend and completed it in 4 days! So much fun with a wide variety of puzzles, each with slight variations to keep things fresh and interesting. There was a range of difficulties and some did require that you read the books (I just went on wikipedia). So much fun!

[Marsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have certainly enjoyed trying top work all the puzzles in this book. There were several that really were difficult.

[Cloud · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't finished it yet, but, the puzzle was so engaging and I had so much fun solving it! Def gonna do the puzzle more if I get the mood.

[Emma Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle book. Great variety of puzzles that weren't too easy. All themed for different Christie books. With a mystery to solve at the end. I'm in puzzle heaven!

[Anmol Banerjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

fantastic set of puzzles

[Bookshortie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a big fan of puzzles and puzzle books and I have recently started my Agatha Christie journey. So to see two of these topics combined into one book was something that caught my interest and I wanted to learn more about.

I loved this puzzle book. It is one you can pick up to complete one puzzle or spend hours looking at them all. It was fun and challenging all at the same time. I liked how each chapter was named after an Agatha Christie book. The puzzles range from word searches to crosswords to other puzzles. I’m only part way through this book but so far I have enjoyed completed the puzzles I have worked on. What I liked about the book in particular was the variety of different puzzles. I did feel like I was a detective trying to find all the clues and solve the case. Some puzzles I found quite easy to complete but there was some that really did challenge me. With those I put them to one side and then tried to come up with a different tactic to decipher them. One of my favourite puzzles was Connecting Rooms because there were so many different ways you could start that puzzle based on the floor plan provided.

The perfect gift for anyone who loves Agatha Christie and puzzles.

[Marion · Rating 4 out of 5]

Putting aside after doing or trying to do about half the puzzles.