Can You Solve the Murder? The Forest of Death – Become the detective in a gripping, interactive crime novel and puzzle book for adults

Can You Solve the Murder?

by Antony Johnston

**Preorder the new Can You Solve the Murder? novel now**

In this gripping interactive crime novel, YOU are the detective. At the end of every chapter, YOU decide what to do next…

A village of secrets.
You arrive at the heart of a remote forest to investigate the murder of a young woman, found dead inside an ancient stone circle. She’s a rock singer, who was filming a music video. Now her bandmates are suspects, along with the eccentric locals.

No one is telling the truth.
There’s just one they all have water-tight alibis, and many villagers believe the singer was actually killed by the ‘Stone Warden’ – a figure from local folklore who haunts the forest.

Only YOU can solve the mystery.
Decide who to interview, decode the strange symbols written on the stone circle, and uncover what the villagers are hiding behind closed doors. Will your choices catch the killer – or will they be your downfall?

Can You Solve the Murder? was a Top Ten Kindle Bestseller, July 2025

Genres: Mystery

372 pages, Paperback

Published July 9, 2026

About the author

** Sign up for Antony's newsletter at http://ajwriter.substack.com **

Antony Johnston is a multi-award-winning author, a New York Times bestseller, and one of the most versatile writers of the modern era.

The Charlize Theron movie Atomic Blonde was based on his graphic novel. His murder mystery series The Dog Sitter Detective won the Barker Book Award. His crime puzzle novel Can You Solve the Murder? reinvented choose-your-own-story books for a mainstream audience and was a Waterstones Paperback of the Year. And his productivity guide The Organised Writer has helped authors all over the world take control of their workload.

Antony is a celebrated videogames writer, with genre-defining titles including Dead Space, Shadow of Mordor, and Resident Evil Village to his credit. He also consulted on the Emmy Award-winning Silent Hill Ascension, making him the only writer in the world to have contributed to all of gaming’s ‘big three’ horror franchises.

His immense body of work also includes Marvel superheroes such as Daredevil and Shang-Chi, the award-winning Alex Rider graphic novels, the post-apocalypse epic Wasteland, and more. He wrote and directed the film Crossover Point, made entirely in quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic.

An experienced podcaster and public speaker, he also frequently writes articles on the life of an author, and is a prolific musician.

Antony is a former vice chair of the Crime Writers’ Association, a member of International Thriller Writers and the Society of Authors, a Shore Scripts screenwriting judge, and sits on the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain’s videogames committee. He lives and works in England.

Reviews

[Linda]

I'd be the worst detective ever lol

[Oli Turner]

#canyousolvethemurder? Book 2 #theforestofdeath By #antonyjohnston @antonyjohnston published in 2026. I had fun with the first book in this #chooseyourownadventure #murdermystery series. This felt a little darker in tone than the first book. Written in the second person, which wasn’t at all jarring as you might expect. You collect clues and interview suspects and flick back and forth depending on the choices you make. There are some limitations which allow you to have a unique experience (such as only being able to choose 3 out of 4 locations to visit due to time constraints imposed by the plot). These restrictions will allow you to go back and choose a different path next time and prevent you from having all of the information so you have to make some tough decisions. the point where you have to accuse one of the suspects felt a little more like guess work than detective work as all of the suspects seem to have motive/opportunity. I certainly didn’t get it right the first time! Made a few wrong turns and had to backtrack a bit. Once I had finished I made sure to check all the other options I could have picked. I was very pleased again to find a section that had no connective link and told you off a bit for finding it: "without fully understanding how you got here..." brilliant. There is a really challenging puzzle and some moral decisions for you to make.
Great stuff. Plus a scoring system at the end. I scored a respectable 90 so I can call myself detective inspector. A little less impressive than the first book where I scored 135 so i can no longer have
"master detective" on my business cards. fingers crossed there is another one coming soon.

[Susannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these books and enjoyed this just as much as the first one, these are choose your own adventure style books but for adults and a modern mystery. You have to go through the book and make the right decisions to find clues, interview the right people and avoid red herrings to find out who the muderer is and you get points at the end too based on how well you did. Also the decisions are much more complicated than in usual versions of these books so the decisions you can make are based on which clues you already have.

This one centres around a lead singer in a band being murdered in a stone circle during the filming of a music video, very entertaining and addictive to read.

[Duckfacekim09 (Kim Howell) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the first in this series but I ADORED the second one 😍😍😍 This was so good that I basically binged the whole thing in 24 hours, which is super easy with an interactive choose your own adventure book!

One of my qualms with the first was that even though I enjoyed it, it was so HARD, whereas with this one, I found barely any red herrings, solved the puzzle, and most importantly FOUND WHO DID IT. I'm so proud of myself 🤣

This was so so fun and if you like a murder mystery (and consider yourself quite the sleuth) then you need to get this and test your detective skills! So so good.

[Valeria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Io AMO questo tipo di libri. È il secondo interattivo di Antony Johnston ed è bello come il primo!
Se amate i gialli e amate i giochi da tavolo, questo libro fa per voi.
E con molto orgoglio posso annunciare di aver indovinato l’assassino al primo colpo 🕵🏼‍♀️ chiamatemi Miss Marple.

È stata una bella lettura estiva, lo consiglio a tutti e non vedo l’ora di leggere il terzo di Antony in questo stile!

[Jini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the first one. I discovered it this May and it started me on this whole journey of finding more interactive adventure books, deduction games and Japanese novels (honkaku and shin-honkaku mysteries).

This one was too easy IMO. Also, I felt it was shorter. Or may be I was used to the format.

Anyway, solved both correctly!

[Marley · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED THIS BOOK! First time trying out a book like this, my partner and I read it together! I was the reader and he was our note taker and together we solved the case! Can’t recommend this book enough, even if you’re reading it by yourself!!

[Divya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed playing the detective and finding the killer. Also not sure why good reads says that this book will be available from July 9th onwards. I have it available in my country

[Abi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was amazing!

[Febbles · Rating 4 out of 5]

🕵️‍♀️🕵️‍♀️
A fun time overall!

[Kinga · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

[Cher]

I did not solve the murder but I had so much fun

[Alec Grieser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super engaging! Spooky vibes, and I couldn’t put it down! I kept wanting to read just a little more and make just a little progress!

[Lynn Reads · Rating 4.25 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed solving this second murder! A well-crafted story, with interesting characters.

[Emmie Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can You Solve the Murder - The Forest of Death is the second interactive choose your own adventure novel by Johnston and I absolutely loved it. I loved the case and I honestly have the greatest time when doing these books. It's such a fresh and unique way of storytelling, letting you make your own choices and decisions in order to solve the crime.

I couldn't put this one down and thankfully managed to solve the case first try and earning the title of Detective Inspector with the choices I made.

I absolutely recommend Johnston's Can You Solve The Murder books, especially if you grew up on the choose your own adventure books or wonder if you could ever solve a crime. I cannot wait to read more from Johnston in the future, especially if it's another Can You Solve The Murder?