Sherlock Holmes Puzzles: Code Breakers

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Wellfleet Press in exchange for an honest review.

This is a neat little collection of puzzles! I like the theme, the illustrations add a lot and there is enough variety to keep someone occupied for quite a while. It is decently put together, although some workout space on the pages might have been nice. All in all though, a lovely little puzzle book.

What a clever concept this is!  Code breakers is one title in a series of puzzle books that uses material from Sherlock Holmes in an intriguing puzzle book fomat.  This one is full of cryptograms.  They are challenging and seem suitable for anyone from a middle school aged child to an adult.  Get this book, get out your pencil, step away from the computer and solve!  They are a great distraction.


Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in exchange for an honest review.

As a child I adored Sherlock Holmes and also enjoyed all sorts of brain-challenging mental puzzles. This cool Series combines both of those delights, encouraging readers to assist Dr. Watson while also following clues discovered by Holmes, the Great Detective.

We managed to get a few of these completed with the kids before they became to complex but they certainly kept us busy and provided some challenging stimulation.
It certainly makes sense from the intro to consider what might be obvious repetition and /or obvious words and letter usage

Need a brain break from the computer? Want to challenge your family or friends to a puzzle? Then this book is perfect for you.

There are over 100 cryptograms in this book that will challenge you to decipher the code to read the hidden message. As a 5th grade teacher and ENL teacher, I find that these are a great brain break and warm up for discussions with my students. In fact, I am looking into purchasing other Sherlock Holmes titles to incorporate as my daily brain breaks once school resumes.

Thank you to Pierre Berloquin, Quarto Publishing Group, and NetGalley for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

This guide to early codes – and of course coded messages for us to decipher – is dressed as a Sherlock Holmes tie-in. The messages are all supposed to be from the original stories, although that's not really a clue. We start with Caesar shifts – just bumping everything a few letters forwards or backwards in the alphabet, and the first puzzles certainly shouldn't worry too many (especially as there's a further clue added to each). We're bumping ourselves forward for the next type – having to work out the right jump to make from letter to letter to pick the message out of the jumble; that too was an ancient way of sending news and secrets. We're on firmly Holmesian ground when we have to do what he did with the Dancing Men – although we're not working out the 'new' alphabet as code interceptors would have to, just cross-referencing; fans of Artemis Fowl books will be old hands at this. A different approach to skipping letters comes next, and shows better than most how the puzzles progress in difficulty in each category.

Before long the puzzles are taking quite some mental acuity to solve, and if you avoid the clues can be really quite fiendish. There might only be one thing to solve on each page, but you get your money's worth here, if this is your kind of challenge. A couple of times, too, it has to be said, I was struggling to understand the instructions, but I think I got there in the end. In fact such was the time I spent with this volume, it changed right in front of me – I had an earlier draft, with no colour and many more printing errors – and an introduction whose reference to dodgy American spelling practices I took against. That has been changed into what we have now, which is a book with a heck of a lot going for it.

This is a great book for people who love Sherlock Holmes and puzzles. Sometimes the clues were a little complicated but it might be because it’s different from most puzzle books.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

This book has over 100 criptogram puzzles to solve all based on the Sherlock Holmes books. These are not easy and are a great challenge to do especially during the lock down period we are facing at the moment. They keep your brain and thinking sharp and busy and time flies during the time you take solving them.

What a cool puzzle book! This had so many fun and complex SherlockHolmes themed-puzzles that kept my entire family busy and occupied during game nights. The puzzles ranged in difficulty but it was fun working with the entire family to figure out the clues and games to break the code! I would highly recommend this for your next game night!

A nice little book of puzzles with nice artwork. These cryptograms will be enjoyed by most puzzle fans, particularly if stuck indoors for extended periods. Recommended.

Thanks very much for the review copy!!

I really like this book. it's full of conversations between Holmes and Watson. I enjoyed the introductions and descriptions at the beginning of each chapter. The puzzles start easy but the get harder and harder and at the same time I learned all kinds of encryption techniques.
The design of the pages is really cool, i like how each puzzle has an image.
I will recommend this book to all my friends and students.
Thank you for letting me take a look!!

This book of Sherlock Holmes Puzzles:Code Breakers sure caught my attention. Who doesn't like a challenge to keep the brain active. This book has given countless hours of entertainment during a much needed time. Some were a challenge for sure. I would recommend this for anyone who wants to do something different and give their brain a workout. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book early in exchange for my honest opinion.

Very cool book and nice puzzles! I love the challenges and it gets harder as you go. Great to keep kids and adults occupied. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

A fun and challenging puzzle book. This book can be enjoyed as a leisurely past-time for adults, or can be an excellent challenge for a young adult or teenager. I wish I had this book to puzzle out during long family road trips. The puzzles vary in difficulty and style so this is something the whole family can do together. People who enjoy crosswords or word puzzles would enjoy this book. Also, the concept of being part of Sherlock Holmes team is somewhat exciting so you feel as though you need to compete against the clock to solve the mystery.

I will say though. There were a few puzzles in which I actually DID ask my whole family to help out on and we were not able to solve. Not sure if we really couldn't solve it or if something was slightly askew in the puzzle itself.

One final thing, and I am not sure if I would be the only person who feels this way, but I wish the "clue" would be more towards the bottom of the page so I am less likely to accidentally see it when I am skimming the puzzle.

A great book to sit down and have some brain bending fun! This would be a great option for parents to sit and do with school-age kids.

If like me you love to play around with coded words and puzzles, then you're going to love this book. Each puzzle has a quirky picture, a quick dialogue containing a clue or two and a 'hint' if you wish to use it. Great little challenges to really get the grey cells working whilst wiling away a few hours.

Many thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this ARC for which I have given my voluntary and unbiased review.

Sherlock Holmes Puzzles: Code Breakers is one of a new series of puzzle books for all ages. Due out 26th May from Quarto on their Wellfleet Press imprint, it's 128 pages and will be available in paperback format.

The Sherlock Holmes Puzzle series includes visual puzzles, brain teasers, math and logic puzzles and more, but this volume contains code puzzles of all sorts. The puzzles are arranged in roughly in increasing difficulty so the easier puzzles progress to some more challenging ones (there are some I haven't managed yet).

The puzzles are accompanied by fun line drawings and hints/tips. (I found myself tripping over the hints without wanting to, so readers might want to cover part of the page with a piece of paper to avoid "cheating"). The solutions are included in the back of the book.

Really well done puzzles with a fun tie-in to the great detective himself.

Five stars. Hours of fun to be had here.

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

Thank you to Pierre Beloquin and Quarto Publishing Group – Wellfleet Press for the opportunity to review this book in return for my honest review.

101 word puzzles each accompanied by a lovely illustration by Jean Rubak. This book will appeal to crossword/code word fiends and is the perfect accompaniment for long train journeys, rainy days and a welcome distraction from social media and the TV. Highly recommend.

Sherlock Holmes Puzzles has so many great brain teasers and a lot of fun cryptic messages. They range from easy to hard and are so much fun to do. I've been doing this with some of my students and they really enjoy collaborating with each other and trying to solve it together! A lot of the scenarios are a lot of fun to read about and each one is quite unique. Not only is it a code, it's also a riddle! This book is definitely a great break away from all the time spent on the computer or working. Highly recommend. It could be done alone or together with family!

If cryptograms are your favorite type of puzzle, you will enjoy the 101 puzzles within Sherlock Holmes Puzzles: Code Breakers.

All are based on puzzles used in real life by emperors, spies, and warriors. Each puzzle has a task for Dr. Watson (you) to do. The brief stories and illustrations add a bit of whimsy to the book.

If you want to challenge yourself, look no further. Sherlock Holmes Puzzles: Code Breakers is a great choice to keep your mind active. 5 stars!

Thanks to Wellfleet Press, Quarto Group, and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

What a fantastic book full of puzzles. A codebreakers dream! Totally challenging short cryptic messages to decode, and a simple clue at the foot of each page to assist the code breaker!
A fantastic brain stretch for locked-down brains
Brilliantly challenging.

Thanks to #NetGalley for the free copy ahead of publication in exchange for an honest review

I LOVE PUZZLES! There are a ton of puzzle books out there that are extremely hard to the point where I have put them down because it has become a chore to do them. While these code puzzles are challenging, they are also solvable. If you get stuck, however, there are hits at the bottom of the page and there’s always the answers in the back. This is not a book that you will digest in one sitting, which allows for multiple puzzle times. However, I found myself mesmerized with solving these codes and coming up for air after an hour. I love the subtle Sherlock Holmes theme throughout. Hats off to you, Mr. Berloquin for a well-done puzzle book series. I will follow these for years to come and look forward to purchasing the remaining series. If you enjoy puzzles you will definitely want to pick this up!

My family and I really enjoyed this book and it has come in handy during these many months of lock down. I first was worried that the quantity of examples of each type of code would become redundant, but it was actually a joy to have so many of each so you could really get the hang of each type presented. I enjoyed the little comments, quotes and banter on each that related the codes to the well known world of Holmes. I would recommend this is anyone who loves solving a good puzzle, and maybe learning to write their own unique and challenging coded messages for others to solve! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to explore this book!

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great puzzle book!

There are a lot of puzzles that rely on code breaking to read the encoded phrase. There is a hint for each puzzle but I still found them surprisingly challenging. I appreciate that there's a key with all of the answers at the back of the book to check your work.

I wish there was another hint instead of having to check the final answer because I really struggled with some of the puzzles. Or maybe more "practice" where you're walked through how to solve the puzzles before solving them.

It is definitely challenging and keeps you thinking!

These were super fun and challenging puzzles to solve - a fun quarantine activity! My husband saw me trying to figure out one of them and pretty soon we were working together to solve them all. Great introduction to the idea of ciphers and codes, and a fun theme holding them all together. Thanks to the publisher for a Netgalley; my opinions are my own.

Loved this book and will be using it as brain break and challenge sessions in class. A great book to get kids thinking strategically and also a great way to get the family puzzling together.

Addictive puzzling.
I really enjoyed testing my brain power with this book. Just as I was starting to get in to the swing of it (& maybe find it a bit repetitive) they changed the style of puzzles and had me on the back foot again. Nice to give my brain a little work out.

Dieses Buch habe ich via Netgalley bekommen und ich bereue es nicht. Denn die Rätsel sind einfach spannend und manchmal auch ein bisschen schwer. Eine Art schaffte ich nicht, da ich sie nicht verstehe. Da geht's um einen Stick, auf den eine Rolle von Buchstaben aufgefädelt wurde. Denn der Stick kann von 3 Seiten bis unendlich-1 Seiten haben. Deshalb ist diese Art von Rätsel sehr schwer zu lösen. Etwas, das ich persönlich gut und einfach finde ist das Rätsel der vertauschten Buchstaben. Dort ist die Anordnung der Buchstaben der Wörter durcheinander. Das hatte ich schnell draußen.

Ich will mich hier nochmal beim Autor bedanken,dass er mir das Buch zur Verfügung stellte. Ich genoss es richtig die Rätsel zu lösen.