It breaks my heart to gave a score this low because I was so excited. I love the concept of the puzzle don't get me wrong but I felt like it was too chaotic for me. There are so many characters and pov. I got lost with all the concept. I felt like the story was too long. Thank you for the arc.

Okay, this was one of the most captivating and FUN mysteries I’ve read in a long time! I have loved everything that Bianca Marais writes, but this is my new favorite! This is an atmospheric, layered mystery full of old magic and dark family secrets, as well as interactive puzzles and “choose your own conundrum options”. I became fully immersed in this story and I already miss it now that I’ve finished. Such a great read!

3.5 Stars
Two snaps for a book that took me back to my childhood obsession with puzzle books from Barnes & Noble!

A Most Puzzling Murder is an interactive, choose-your-own-adventure mystery packed with puzzles, magic, and family secrets. It’s perfect for my fellow puzzle lovers craving a dose of childhood nostalgia.

In this story, we follow Destiny, a brilliant child prodigy grappling with the grief of losing her best friend and brother. One day, she receives a mysterious letter inviting her to interview for the role of family historian for the enigmatic Scruffmore family. But there’s a twist—you, the reader, must first crack the coded message hidden in the letter so Destiny can make her way to the aptly named Eerie Island.

Upon arrival, Destiny discovers a shadowy island with limited technology, a dark past, and lingering ties to a long-gone serial killer. All paths lead back to the Scruffmore family’s tangled history. Along the way, you’ll help Destiny solve intricate puzzles and uncover how she might be connected to this family tree herself.

Overall, this was such a fun and unique mystery! I loved that the book included interactive elements—you could even email Destiny for extra clues or access bonus content. My only small gripe: reading on my Kindle made the constant flipping between puzzles and solutions a bit cumbersome (though I still loved the challenge). I imagine the physical copy would offer a much smoother experience.

I also had the opportunity to try the audiobook via an advanced eALC. While I appreciate the effort to provide multiple formats, the audiobook didn’t quite work. The puzzles are challenging to interact with in audio form, and the choose-your-own-adventure segments forced you to listen to all options instead of selecting. For this book, I’d recommend sticking with the physical edition.

Ultimately, despite it taking me a bit longer to finish, I had a blast solving this mystery alongside Destiny. If you’re looking for a creative and interactive reading experience and a chance to flex those puzzle-solving muscles, pick this one up (physical copy only!).

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing the e-ARC and e-ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Former prodigy and orphan Destiny Whip is alone, but she was used to it. A letter invites her to interview for the position of Scruffmore family historian, but she never applied in the first place. Encoded in the letter is a promise to learn her own family secrets, so she goes to Eerie Island to meet the Scruffmores. They all mistrust one another and carry untold secrets themselves. In the midst of cryptic ciphers, hidden passages, and the family’s magical line of succession, Destiny is certain of two things: one of the Scruffmores is going to die and she’s running out of time to stop it.

Mortimer Scruffmore is the magician king, expected to pass along his crown to his heir as his magic wanes. Instead, he plans to sacrifice others, including his children, to achieve immortality. He isn't a good person, regularly cheating on his wives and holding himself as superior to those without magic. His own family hates him, and the jockeying between the siblings for control shows that. Destiny is dealing with immense grief, and is so isolated that the thought of potentially being his daughter isn't a complete turnoff. From the start, getting to the island is tricky, and there are scores of feral cats, a raccoon that somehow can go anywhere in the castle, and secrets that others were keeping from Mortimer. Once he dies, Destiny has thirty hours to solve the murder before the island opens up.

The book includes puzzles and encrypted messages that the reader can decode, as well as the opportunity to send results to an email address for more clues or scenes. Some choose-your-own-options exist as well, a neat touch that's difficult to pull off. The graphics updating the Scruffmore family tree is amusing, and the shifting POVs gave us more insight into the characters and their motivation. I liked Destiny and cheered her on as she went through the novel. She was young and alone at the start, so unsure of herself despite her intellect due to loss. She has such optimism in some ways, despite that, which helps her fit in with a world of magic, ghosts, and tangled family ties. The ending was a fitting one, and no matter what you choose, Destiny is a stronger woman than she was at the start.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: A Most Puzzling Murder by Bianca Marais

What a fun, fantastical, and brain-teasing ride! A Most Puzzling Murder is a genre-bending delight that feels like stepping into a gothic game of Clue—with riddles, magic, and murder all wrapped in one twisty package.

Destiny Whip, an orphaned former child prodigy and enigmatologist (yes, that’s a real thing and yes, she’s brilliant), lives a quiet, solitary life until a mysterious job offer pulls her to the stormy and secretive Eerie Island. There, she’s surrounded by the strange and secretive Scruffmore family, who are dripping with motives and mysterious pasts. Destiny didn’t ask for this puzzle—but let’s be honest, no one solves a murder before it happens by accident.

I loved the clever construction of this book—it’s part gothic mystery, part magical realism, part escape room riddle-fest, and it all works. The puzzles are genuinely satisfying, the setting is deliciously eerie, and the characters are quirky in that "wait, are you trying to kill me?" kind of way. It had major Knives Out meets The Westing Game vibes, with a sprinkle of choose-your-own-adventure flair.

My only reason for knocking off a star is that the pacing wobbled a bit in the middle, and with so many twisty elements layered on top of each other, it occasionally felt a bit tangled. But overall? This was such a unique and immersive read that kept me both guessing and grinning.

If you like your mysteries with a touch of magic, secret passageways, puzzles galore, and a heroine who’s a little awkward but entirely brilliant—you’ll want to add this one to your TBR immediately!

3.75 stars.

There are many things that I enjoyed about this book: the descriptive and engaging world building, the magical elements, the likable main character, dastardly villains, and a mystery element. The author is really creative and imaginative and that shines throughout the novel.

The novel is interactive incorporating puzzles for the reader to solve along with the MC. The answers are provided at the back of the book for those who want to skip the puzzles. Highly recommend reading the physical copy of this book so that you can flip easily to the answer section. There are also a few choose your option-type chapters. You can be as interactive with the book as you wish which is a great option for different types of readers.

I did think that the story was a bit too long and could have been condensed. There were a lot of secondary characters to keep track of but there is a family tree included in the book.

Overall, this is a likeable, creative novel with great world-building.

Thanks to the publisher for the complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

This book is a true genius of a novel! Remember those choose your own adventure books? I loved them as a kid! This book has choose your own adventure, riddles and puzzles that you actually get to email the main character to get clues on how to solve (I mean, how fun is that?!), magic, a ghost, family secrets, and even an emotional support urn.

It’s been a while since I’ve read a choose your own adventure style book, but it was a lot of fun! The interactiveness of the story was interesting and I liked that the author included puzzles throughout to solve. Did I always figure out the puzzles? No. I did enjoy myself though!

I will admit, that the magical aspect of the book was not what I expected. It did take me a moment to really delve into the book. I had a good time reading it and I really did enjoy the characters, but I did struggle with all of the multiple POVs. It was a fun time, but maybe it just isn’t for me right now.

This ARC was provided by Harlequin Trade Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The latest from Canadian author, Bianca Marais, is an intriguing novel which provides puzzles not only for its protagonist, but also for the readers to solve, which can reward them with a bonus scene (hints and even solutions are provided for those that need them).

Destiny Whip, a reclusive former child prodigy, is intrigued when she gets a letter to interview for a position of the Scruffmore's family historian which she never applied for. Set in a castle there are elements of the gothic as Destiny tries to stop the murder of one of the family and determine who the perpetrator might be.

For those reading the audiobook, ebook or library version Marais provides printable versions of the puzzles for readers on her website. I had fun trying to solve the puzzles as well as reading this supernatural mystery novel that has plenty of juicy family drama. I liked how the chose your own aspect plays with the idea of some events being fated while others can take dramatically different turns depending on a small change. If like me, you enjoyed the "choose your own adventure books" as a tween, than you'll find a lot of fun nostalgia in the participatory elements of reading this story.

A Most Puzzling Murder by Bianca Marais has it all. It's part mystery, part fantasy with additional puzzles and choose your own adventure options thrown in.
Destiny has been struggling since the death of her best friend. Her best friend who despite that is still lingering around talking her to. When Destiny gets a curious letter about a job that she never applied for, she finds the secret message hidden within and heads the island to investigate. There she meets a strange family with so many secrets and a murder that she is determined to solve.
The puzzle elements were so much fun. They were such an interesting way to make the book stand out and add another layer to the story by bringing the reader straight into the mystery.

This was a fun, mysterious, and interactive read with fantasy elements mixed in. There are puzzles to solve alongside the main character, Destiny, which I found really entertaining. There are also parts where you get to choose your own adventure, and yes I did pick my own way to go but went back and read the other way and you do still end up at the same place, so no matter which way you go, you get to the same part. I liked the mystery surrounding the Scruffmore's and figuring out their secrets. There are a lot of POVs and it was hard to follow at times and flipping back and forth between the clues was sort of difficult with an e-book compared to a physical book. But I still really enjoyed this read!

📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
A Most Puzzling Murder by Bianca Marais
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 479 / Genre: Fantasy/Murder Mystery/Puzzle Book
Audiobook Narrator: Dylan Moore
Duration: 15 hours 19 minutes
Release Date: June 10, 2025
🥳#HappyPubDay!🎉

Destiny Whip is a world-renowned enigmatologist. She’s also a very lonely orphan who lost her adopted mother, brother, and best friend (who she still regularly talks to in her ghostly form). So when she receives a letter that comes with a puzzle that hints at information about her biological family, she can’t help but follow this lead. What she finds is a family gifted with magical powers, a confusing web of siblings with ever-changing parentage, and a father who’s obsessed with power.

This story in itself was very interesting and chilling. But the author also added in alternate endings to chapters, where you get decide which way the story should go. Plus puzzles are interspersed in the story as well. This was such a fun and challenging book!

Luckily I received advanced copies of both the audiobook and the ebook. I think because of the alternate endings and the puzzles, it would be best read as an ebook. But Dylan Moore did a really excellent job narrating, so having both versions was really the best.

Thank you, @BiancaMarais_Author, @htp_hive, @htpbooks, and @htpbooks_audio for my gifted copies. #HiveInfluencer

This was the most fun, interactive mystery combined with fantasy. Our heroine Destiny who is a genius and an orpan, is invited to a peculiar Island to apply for the position of family historian to the Scruffmore family. She is hoping that there are some family members on this island. When she arrives on the Island she begins having visions that show one of the Scruffmores will die, and Destiny is determined to stop it.

This book contains clues in the form of puzzles that Destiny has to solve, and the reader gets to solve alongside her. There is also portions of the book that are choose your own adventure. The mystery itself keeps you on your toes, each of the Scruffmore family has their own secrets.

Thank you to Netgalley and MIRA publishing. I loved this story, it was so immersive. The puzzles were fun to solve and it felt like playing a game of Clue. I highly recommend this book.

This book drew me right in, beginning with the first chapter. It offers a unique read with some "Choose Your Own Adventure" elements and puzzles for the reader to solve. These make it a perfect read for those who enjoy both doing logic puzzles and reading mysteries. I imagine that the author had fun with this title. Add it to a summer beach read list...or read it wherever you are.

A MOST PUZZLING MURDER is an interactive mystery with a lot to unpack!

I started this book on my Kindle. Pausing to figure out the puzzles was easy enough, though honestly, a little too taxing on my tired brain for late-night reading.

The next day, I switched to the audiobook while I was busy doing mundane tasks. Dylan Moore does a great job with the narration, but it’s not a method I would recommend. You have to pause the audio, then either go to your ebook or print copy to work the puzzle, or download the PDF and use that. You kind of need the answers to make sense of the story, since they’re not worked into the narrative. And stopping to figure out puzzles isn’t usually convenient for me when I’m listening to an audiobook. Something for readers to keep in mind when choosing a format.

I felt that Destiny’s story suffered from too much background noise. We have a bunch of POVs (7, I think). We have the main plot and subplots galore. We have magic that isn’t really explained, drama with all the extended family, mysteries, sentient animals, a best friend ghost, past trauma, the puzzle clues, and several “choose your own adventure” side stories. For me, it was too wide-reaching, making the story feel tangled and convoluted.

I’d been intrigued by the concept of an interactive mystery, but I’ve learned it’s not for me. I like to get lost in a book, and this felt like work. I couldn’t relax into the story.

The writing style is entertaining and engaging, so definitely give it a try if the concept appeals to you.

*Thanks to MIRA for the free eARC, and to HQ Audio for the free audiobook download!*

A Most Puzzling Murder is an incredibly unique mystery novel, featuring several “choose your own adventure” style scenes and many puzzles of varying difficulties and skill sets. I really enjoyed it from start to finish, and of course I did read all possible avenues for the choose your own adventure scenes after selecting mine, because how could I not? Some of the puzzles did have me stumped at first, but I love that you can email the main character to get hints should you need them. The author, Bianca Marais, also has an incredibly helpful downloadable puzzle workbook on her website for those reading on kindle or audiobook, so I utilized that so I could work through the puzzles.

I did read this partially on kindle and partially on audio, and I found I actually preferred the audio format! I usually am not a huge fan of audiobooks, but A Most Puzzling Murder is truly fantastic on audio! The narration reminded me so much of the older Nancy Drew computer games, which may be a niche reference but is so, so accurate. The tone and cadence the narrator uses was very reminiscent of those games. I’m not sure if that was an intentional choice, but I really loved it nonetheless!

This book was a really fun blend of fantasy and mystery, two of my favorite genres, so it’s really no surprise that I enjoyed it so much. I would definitely recommend it in any format, but like I said above, I personally would lean towards audio for this one if you were a fan of those Nancy Drew computer games growing up (or let’s be real, still to this day) as it provides a nice dose of nostalgia.

Thank you Mira and The Hive for the early review copy and ALC of A Most Puzzling Murder. All opinions are my own!

This is the most fun I’ve had with a book ever. The challenging puzzles, choose your own conundrum chapters along with a magically mysterious plot, what’s not to love? I went in expecting an Inheritance Games style mystery. I got that and sooo much more! I’ll certainly be in the lookout for anything this author writes in the future!

4.5/5
This book was so fun and cool! It had an English island mystery to solve but also had a choose your own path story and puzzles to solve. I feel like that’s not done as much anymore and so interesting! This is definitely a must read for those who love solving the mystery alongside the MC.

Thank you netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was disappointed with this one. I love a riddle and puzzle filled story, but I'm not a fan of the story depending on my ability to solve them. This was also a choose your own adventure type of book and frankly, to me, it doesn't translate well as an ebook or, from what I can tell from my reading buddies, the audiobook. It seems like a ton of POVs and subplot and it was to the point that I didn't even finish.

This was not my cup of tea. I love Bianca Marais's novels. She is a brilliant writer, and I enjoyed reading her previous works and looked forward to this one. I just couldn't get past the premise of the book. It is admirable how well thought out and interactive it was, but I don't want to feel tasked while reading. I read to escape from tasks and don't want to feel like there is work to do. Regardless, a creative way to interact with readers, especially those who love solving puzzles. It just wasn't for me. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for an advance copy.