The Matchbook Murders

Port Vesper, winter 1947. The rain never stops, the neon never sleeps, and City Hall runs on envelopes. You are the new detective sergeant on the Homicide Squad: new in town, no friends, no debts, which is exactly why you get the cases nobody else wants. A bandleader dead between sets. A boxer who took a dive. A magician who stayed vanished.

Every case gives you a crime scene, a lineup of suspects, one hard fact and a handful of clues. Work the logic grid, cross out the impossible, and name the killer, the weapon and the place. No guessing required: each case has exactly one answer, and logic alone will get you there.

But some scenes hide something extra: a black matchbook from the Starlight Room, a nightclub that burned eight years ago, with a number pencilled inside. And those killers all tell the same story about a phone call in the small hours. Follow the matchbooks through the book, and in the final case, name the one who has been handing them out.

Inside the case files

• 50 original noir murder mysteries, each on its own two-page spread with a roomy logic grid
• Three ranks: Rookie (three suspects), Gumshoe (four suspects) and Hard-Boiled (four or five suspects, with motives), then a five-suspect finale
• A how-to-solve guide with a fully worked example
• A city map, suspect lineups with height, hand and eye color, call logs, a newspaper front page and a nightclub cloakroom book
• A hint for every case and full solutions, with the last chapter of the story printed after the answers so nothing is spoiled

For adult puzzle fans and mystery readers who like their detective stories dark, atmospheric and fair: grim, but never gory. Every case has been computer-checked to have exactly one solution. Large 8.5 x 11 inch pages.