A Most Puzzling Murder

 

A Most Puzzling Murder is a well written and engaging standalone meta-puzzle mystery by Bianca Marais. Released 10th June 2025 by HarperCollins on their MIRA imprint, it's 480 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is a multi-layered puzzle mystery with a clever, well constructed core, and numerous meta-puzzles for readers to work out themselves. It straddles genres, ostensibly marketed as a cozy, it's nevertheless a fantasy/gothic/mystery with a -large- (often confusing) cast of characters and a dollop of magical realism. Stylistically, the prose is more YA than adult (MC is called Destiny Whip, her foils are the Scruffmore family), but it's not really a YA selection either. 

The plot positively meanders along with lots of side trips and dead ends. Overall, it gives a confusing, discontinuous read. Nevertheless, it's full of puzzles, and curses, and creepy murderous vibes. The meta-puzzles are solved in the back of the book for readers who get stuck.

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 15 hours, 9 minutes and is capably read by Dylan Moore. The setup and nature of the puzzles do *not* lend themselves to audio format, and readers who choose the audiobook should also have access to a print version or ebook. 

Three and a half stars. Odd, disjointed, and brooding. It would be worthwhile for public library acquisition, or possibly a buddy read or home library selection.  

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.