Kristin's Bookshelf

📖 The Official Clue Book of Puzzles
✍️ Dr. Gareth Moore & Laura Jayne Ayres
🎁 Provided by NetGalley
📅 Release Date: October 27, 2026
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’m obsessed! I’ve never received an ARC that wasn’t a traditional novel, so “The Official Clue Book of Puzzles” was such a fun change of pace.

I’ve ALWAYS been someone who enjoys brain games, puzzles, and anything that makes me stop and think. This book hits that sweet spot of being challenging without becoming so difficult that it stops being fun. There have definitely been moments where I’ve had to sit with a puzzle for a while, but that’s part of the appeal. I want to have to work for the answer!

In all honesty, I haven’t completed the entire book yet, but I’ve worked through a pretty big chunk of it and am having so much fun in the process. There is enough variety to keep things interesting, and the CLUE theme makes solving everything even more entertaining.

I do think this is one where the print edition will be the way to go. Some of the exercises are much easier when you can actually write, mark things up, cross things out, and work directly on the page. Trying to complete certain puzzles digitally can be a little cumbersome unless you’re willing to print the individual pages.

And then there’s the nostalgia factor.

CLUE has been around since the 1940s, but I remember it being HUGE when I was growing up in the ’80s and ’90s. It was one of THE go-to games for family game nights, so there’s something especially fun about revisiting Professor Plum, Colonel Mustard, Miss Scarlet, and the rest of the gang in an entirely different format.

This feels like a book made for people like me who love mysteries even when there isn’t technically a novel involved. Give me suspects, clues, logic puzzles, and something to solve, and apparently I’m happy!

I would absolutely pick up more books like this in the future. It’s nostalgic, clever, interactive, and just plain fun. I can already see the finished print edition making a fantastic gift for mystery lovers, puzzle people, and longtime CLUE fans.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.