Collins Murder Mystery Puzzles - Mystery on the Tracks: 100 logic puzzles to solve the murder mystery

Collins Murder Mystery Puzzles

by Clarity Media

240 pages, Paperback

Published April 22, 2025

Reviews

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're looking at checking out this series of puzzle books dressed as cosy crime dramas (or is it the other way round?!), this is the green one. First up, in red, was a great selection of individual puzzles dressed as a silly narrowboat caper, and more recently a far too wordy and up-itself Midsomer-ish effort was in blue. Here, we're back with the sprightly, the lower word count, and the more enjoyable, as we watch a mature detective on a holiday trip to Italy. She's got her eyes on the art there, but taking a sleeper across the Alps a man is murdered, and a potentially priceless artwork goes AWOL. The broadest set of characters (and a small set, first class obviously being too pricey for many) act as suspects, and she reluctantly investigates – while every step of our path from first page to last involves one of a hundred different puzzles.

And once again, whatever the merits of the storytelling, the puzzles are the main reason to come here. The blend of the familiar – this has crosswordy things, revives that put-towers-in-order-depending-on-what-heights-you-can-see test, and even a river crossing logic problem – is with many new things (or at least, new to many before striking up with this set of books). It can frustrate, as all such books can, when a whole page is given over to the design and layout of the puzzle that might take about five seconds, but others are more taxing. Certainly the breadth here is the bulk of the appeal.

As for the story, well, it's not too bad – a woman thrown into the deep end when it comes to sorting out who is really who and what and why. But you really do have to take everything, from an impromptu skiing trip to so much else, with more than a pinch of salt; a lot of the time here it is just implausible. But it's fun enough, and not something that will suffer if the puzzles delay you too much. It also means there's more of an allowance for you to join in with the solving and investigations than was the case with the first book, but we are definitely here to just fill in the puzzle grids, and not try to replace the detective in her work. Being aware of that caveat emptor is about it when it comes to negatives, so this once again is a healthy four stars.

The red one:- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The blue one:- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars
For a puzzle book instead of a novel, this was quite good and kept me entertained for hours and hours. The story was fun and kept you guessing and the puzzles were varied. I don't think many (if any) were repeated in the types of puzzle and the level of ease definitely varied. Some were done in a flash and others kept me going for an hour or so, solidly ploughing my way through. This would keep some older children entertained as well, although marketed for adults. Great for a beginner and it is easy enough to bypass the puzzles that you cannot get, without giving away the rest of the story. I like having solutions in the back so I can flick to it and check my answers although being a digital copy, it was a bit wearisome going backwards and forwards. I found myself completing 4 or 5 puzzles before checking due to that.
I LOVE these types of books and cannot get enough. This was the second in this series I have 'read' and I look forward to the next!
Thank you to Netgalley, Clarity Media and Collins for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

[Rachel N · Rating 4 out of 5]

A puzzle book with a difference, I really enjoyed the way there was a continuing story to link all these puzzles. The story itself had the feel of an old fashioned detective novel and was fairly straight forward but it was an entertaining link throughout. The puzzles themselves were a very good range in type and difficulty and I thoroughly enjoyed working through it. If you have any friends or family members who enjoy puzzles, this would be a perfect little present for Christmas to see them through the winter months.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thankyou to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

What a fun puzzle book! If you loved the Professor Layton games you will love this!

This book features a set of various different types of puzzles, all connected by an overarching narrative as we follow a detective solving crimes. The fact that it wasn't just pages of logic puzzles like other puzzle books (don't get me wrong I love logic puzzles but sometimes variety is nice) was great.

I will say reading this as an ebook was awkward with the formatting but I would absolutely buy a physical version of this book.

[Jamad · Rating 4 out of 5]

A murder mystery wrapped around lots of puzzles to solve. Some of the puzzles are solved in the time it takes to read them but others are more taxing and satisfying.

Difficult to give a proper review with only the electronic version. For me a hard copy would have been needed to solve all the puzzles and I resorted to pen and paper quite a lot.

Three stars rounded up to four because that is what I think a hard copy would be worth.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC

[Nemo · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's an entertaining little book. It is certainly a great way to pass the time. Each little puzzle is as fun as the next.