What an ingenious book, while I have no aspirations to be a detective, I love to read about them and this proved that I should just stick to that!
You are the detective called to a death at a health spa. When it is determined that it is a murder you have a limited pool of suspects and plenty of clues, but there are some red herrings in the mix.
Good fun and kept this idiot entertained!

This book is quite an entertaining read in the style of a 'Choose Your Own Adventure' novel. You are a Detective Chief Inspector, investigating a murder at a health spa. With the help of your notebook you will assemble clues which will steer your investigation in certain directions.

For the most part the story runs on rails - there are set events and you choose who to talk to at each juncture and gather information accordingly. There are also decision points which can lead to the story ending, with at least one seeming to be quite an unfair consequence from a normal decision. That works in a CYOA book, but in a book of this length I lost interest in doing the whole thing again for some time, particularly as this involves reading mostly the same material.

The clue gathering mechanism feels clever and tidy, with the text responding correctly to you possessing information. The only time this seems to fall over is with some coded messages, which force you to repeat a path in certain circumstances and could have done with some refinement. However, there is at least an author's note acknowledging this and basically asking you to bear with it as your characters react with surprise to information they have already discussed.

Doing an adult book in this style is ambitious and for the most part Johnston succeeds. While it wasn't really the book for me, I can recognise that it has been done well and I did find it absorbing.

Thank you to the publishers for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review,

This was such a fun and addictive read! Can You Solve the Murder? isn’t your typical crime novel- it’s interactive, almost like a choose-your-own-adventure, but with a detective twist. From the very beginning, I was completely hooked. It really makes you feel like you’re part of the investigation.

I loved how the story flowed as you gathered clues and made decisions about where to go and what to do next. It kept me on my toes and made the whole experience feel fresh and engaging. I did take one wrong turn along the way (whoops), which was both funny and a little disappointing- I was sure I was on track to be the next great detective!

Overall, it was a clever and entertaining read that kept my brain working the whole time. If you enjoy murder mysteries and want something a little different that pulls you into the case, I definitely recommend giving this one a try.

This was a fun interactive read as you the reader take on the role of the detective and try to make the correct decisions or face the consequences.

This interactive story and puzzle is a lot of fun and allows you to put yourself in the detective inspector’s shoes, deciding on each course of action.

I’ve never read/played anything like this before, but if you’re a fan of ‘choose your own adventure stories’, you’ll already be experienced in this type of book.

I knew it would be a murder mystery game to play along with, but I didn’t expect that there would be such a good, cozy storyline to accompany it. I found myself quickly getting into the storyline and was intrigued by the characters. The police force for one surprised me with their detailed personalities. There were a lot of suspects and some fantastic motives and red herrings, too. I also loved all the themes the author managed to interweave into the story from the cozy crime genre. Obviously, I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but I was imagining it as a TV show in my mind.

I wrote down all of my numbers, noting the clues carefully on a separate digital sheet. I think if I played the game again, I’d write on paper, just a personal preference. This could be played as a group if one person reads out the storyline, and then a decision is made on how to move forward as a group. Don’t forget to keep your score!

4.5 stars

I will say this review won't be as long or detailed as some of my others as it's very difficult to do justice to the novel without spoiling it, and I don't want to do that.

This sounded soooooo good! I read so many thrillers and crime novels and murder mysteries that it's so nice to find one that's a bit different, that keeps the genre fresh - like I felt with Janice Hallett's books.

In the contents, you'll see there's about 200 chapters or sections in this book which seems like a lot, but some of these sections are a sentence or two, so it's not as overwhelming as it sounds. You also don't real the sections in order. After each section, you get to choose where the story goes next, and it tells you which section to skip to, so don't try to read it cover to cover because it won't make sense.

I really don't know how he's managed it. No matter what option you choose at the end of the chapters, it all makes sense and you always get the whole story, it is simply remarkable. Antony says it involved a lot of flow charts but even that seems impressive to keep on top of. It is one of the cleverest books I have ever read, I just can't get my head round it.

It's not the best choice for a bedtime read though, as you need to have your wits about you, making notes as you go, as it's not a straightforward read from beginning to end. Although, having said that, it didn't stop me reading it late into the night.

I did have one slight issue though and that's with the ending. Having finished it, it is a clever ending and in keeping with the rest of the book, but at the time it frustrated me and confused me, but that's my only issue and it's only a slight one.

Once you get to the end of the story, you can tot up all the points you've collected throughout the book (don't worry, it'll make sense once you read it), and it will see how good a police officer you could be, and it turns out I was a Detective Inspector, which is the second from top, so hey, maybe that's a new career path?

A local businessman has been found murdered on the lawn of wellness retreat, Elysium. Prior to falling from a balcony, he had been stabbed with a gardening fork, and everyone at the retreat is now a suspect. It is up to you to find the killer: you choose the line of enquiry and who you want to interview next. Can you solve the murder or will your lack of investigation skills let the killer escape?

As a child, I loved Choose Your Own Adventure books where you read a section of the story and then were given an option as to which route/plot you wanted to take, giving you numerous versions of the same story. This is the first time I have seen an adult version so my interest was instantly piqued.

The plot is like something from an old golden era crime novel, ie a crime has been committed and one of the people present at the time is the killer; you just have to determine which person it is. After an initial introduction to what has happened, you are given the choice of where you want to go and who you want to interview – you really are in charge of the case. My advice would be to make notes, just like a real detective, as they will definitely help you to keep track of each of the suspects. You will also need to note given numbers and letters as they will be needed as the story progresses.

I really enjoyed the story, moreso knowing that I can return to it at a later date, possibly getting a completely different outcome. I read this on a kindle and was very impressed with how each page was linked so you could instantly turn to the page you required. Hopefully this will be the first of many!

As you may guess from the title, Can You Solve the Murder is a 'choose your own adventure' take on the crime novel. As you read, you're asked to make choices (eg about who to interview next, or which location to go to). You need to make notes (essential, not optional) of certain things along the way, as well as your own suspicions. There's even a code to crack!

The mystery is set at a wellness retreat. One of the guests is found dead in a courtyard, a garden fork in his chest, pushed from a balcony accessed via a locked room. Oh, and surprise surprise, it turns out he has enemies in every direction, among the staff and customers. And you're the detective who has to figure it all out.

If this book didn't have the 'choose your own adventure' aspect it would probably be a solid three for me. The mystery is interesting but straightforward and the main character can't have too much depth when they're also the reader. Similarly, it's hard to build relationships or learn more about the side characters.

The adventure aspect is fun but quite a lot of work. If reading as an ebook, you have to be careful to click the right links or you can get lost very easily. I ended up making notes about where I was every so often.

As for the code, I did turn to AI for help, mostly because I figured a detective would look to all sources for help too. ChatGPT got nowhere, Claude was able to work out most of it!

Definitely enjoyed this one as a fun activity but I think generally I'd rather a more traditional book that enables you to go deeper with the characters. Maybe a great gift for murder mystery fans?

This is something completely different for me and is in essence a choose your own path and the chance to be the detective. The reader becomes part of the story and is able to choose from a selection of options after being given some information and is then advised to take one of these and note down various clues. I have to admit I was sceptical that I would be drawn in by this or that it would work, however I found it interesting and it definitely kept my thinking. On my first attempt I was not able to get to the solution and I struggled with the addition of clues using my kindle notes, so would recommend paper and pen, also more authentic as a detective.

Well written and definitely different, I would recommend anyone interested in seeing if they could solve a murder to give it a try! Can you solve clues, avoid red herrings and decipher a code? Then give this a go.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to say that this book was fun for the whole family but with rival teams trying to work out the clues it became very competitive. Sad to say that the children managed a better score than the adults and there was much heated discussion. Really a great way to fill in a holiday weekend.

I really loved this book and how interactive it was! I'm super glad I got an eARC for it because I don't think it would be as good as a physical book with all the flipping back and forth you have to do.

Overall a very good read, interesting case, and I hope there is a second one!

I used to love 'Choose your own adventure' books when I was a child, borrowing them from the local library and becoming adept at holding my fingers as place-markers in multiple pages in the book so I could attempt to undo any mistaken choices! So I was excited to try this grown up version, the only sad thing being that I was reading it on my Kindle! The jumps from section to section worked well, though I missed that scrabble through the pages to find the right section during the exciting parts! I did, initially, use the notes and highlights function on the Kindle to try to keep track of all the clues, but this quickly became completely unmanageable and I resorted to traditional paper & pen and honestly, I would recommend that as you feel much more of a detective when you're scrawling things down in a notebook!
I wasn't a very good detective, it turns out! I failed my first attempt pretty quickly, and then I started trying to keep track of where I'd made choices that turned out to be bad choices, so that I could more easily undo rather than go back entirely to the beginning. So, I did get there in the end, and wound up with a good rating of being a Detective Inspector, but felt slightly guilty that this might not have been warranted. I've always felt quite suited to the role of a small village sleuth, so it's a bit sad to find that I was missing the obvious clues and repeatedly reprimanded by my superiors for making bad decisions and letting suspects get away or fail to be convicted due to lack of evidence!
I should also admit that I tried using AI to help me crack the code in the book! It managed a little bit, but what came out was mostly nonsense, so actually in the end I had to sit and work it out with pen and paper myself. Which was fun and harder than I'd thought!
The actual writing isn't anything fancy, and initially that worried me, but once I started collecting clues and trying to solve the crime I stopped worrying about literary style and just enjoyed the book for the adventure it is. This was definitely a nostalgic experience, and an interesting and unusual way to enjoy crime fiction!

This was amazing. I loved that adventure books where you chose which way to go when I was a kid, so I was really excited to be able to read this one about a murder, and be the one investigating.
This was not a let down at all, I adored it, it was fun and intriguing, I lost at my first try but succeeded the second one. Thanks for the opportunity (although I read it on my Netgalley app at my phone, and some of the links didn't work properly and I had to look for the section by hand)

Murder Most Foul..
Anyone for a tad of amateur sleuthing, maybe a little snooping? Step into detection mode in this cleverly constructed interactive crime novel where the reader becomes detective, where every clue counts. Murder most foul is afoot at the Elysium - a health retreat set inside an English country manor house - and you need to find out exactly whodunit. Everything is at stake here, everyone a suspect. Wholly enjoyable and deliciously entertaining.

Oh how I loved this book..

NO! I didn't guess the clues
NO! I had no clue what was going to happen

so YES! I am a terrible detective..

This is a unique and clever read. Just brilliant..