Cozy murder mystery logic puzzles

Snow outside.
Murder between the shelves.

Forty cozy murder mysteries in an old bookshop in the weeks before Christmas, solved with pure logic and a cup of something warm. Every case has exactly one answer. No guessing.

€7,99 · PDF to print at home, straight to your inbox

Murder at the Christmas Bookshop
AArthurOwns the shop, every creak in it, and strong opinions on bookmarks
BBenedictBarista; draws open books in the milk foam
  • Read the statements
  • Work the scene
  • Name the guilty

The series

Pick your crime scene

Each book is a full case file: 40 murders (32 in Hard Cases), tip-offs when you're stuck and a step-by-step verdict for every case. Murder at the Christmas Bookshop comes in English, German and Dutch, as a paperback or a PDF to print at home.

Paperback shipping: €4,95 within the Netherlands, €7,95 to Belgium

PDF to print at home, available now · paperbacks coming soon

  • Murder at the Christmas Bookshop
    • 40 cases
    • Easy to expert

    Murder at the Christmas Bookshop

    Snow at the window, coffee in the café corner and a body between the shelves. Forty cozy murders in an old bookshop, and every one of them can be solved with pure logic.

    English, German & Dutch editions

    €7,99PDF available now · paperback coming soon
  • Alpine Mysteries
    • 40 cases
    • Easy to expert

    Alpine Mysteries

    Snowed in, fondue on the table, and one guest who will not see the thaw. Forty murders in the mountains, solved with nothing but logic.

    €15,95Coming soon
  • Hard Cases
    • 32 cases
    • Hard

    Hard Cases

    No warm-up, no hand-holding. Thirty-two hard cases on big floor plans with crowded suspect lists, for solvers who finished the easy ones over breakfast.

    €15,95Coming soon

See all books

The briefing

Three laws of the scene

Each case is a single moment, frozen: the instant the deed was done. Everyone present is sitting, standing or lying somewhere on the floor plan of the bookshop, and each has given a statement about where. Rebuild the scene square by square – once everyone is back in place, the guilty party has nowhere left to hide.

Your assignment

Rebuild the scene, then name the guilty: the only suspect who ended up in the same room as the victim.

  1. 1

    One per line

    Nobody – the victim included – shares a row or a column with anyone else. Place one person and their whole row and column close for everybody else.

  2. 2

    Mind the furniture

    People stand on bare floor or sit in an armchair, on a sofa or on a rug. Bookcases, tables and the like are in the way – nobody can be on those squares.

  3. 3

    Alone with the body

    Exactly one suspect ends up in the same room as the victim. That suspect is guilty – and the victim counts as a person in every clue.

Solve a case right now

Nine cozy cases at the Christmas bookshop, from easy to expert – not in any book. Free in your browser, no account; your progress stays on your device.

Play full screen in a new tab

From easy to expert

Work your way up to Cold Cases

Murder at the Christmas Bookshop climbs through four chapters, from warm-up to expert. The floor plans grow, the line-ups get longer and the statements get cagier – but every case still has exactly one answer.

  1. Easy

    On the Beat

    Cases 1–10 · 5×5 to 6×6 floor plans

    Warm-up cases. Every statement pulls its weight, and one clean line of reasoning leads home.

  2. Medium

    Plain Clothes

    Cases 11–20 · 6×6 to 8×8 floor plans

    More suspects, bigger floor plans. Expect to combine two statements before a square gives way.

  3. Hard

    Major Crimes

    Cases 21–30 · 8×8 to 10×10 floor plans

    Busy scenes and tight-lipped witnesses. Keep track of who could still reach each room.

  4. Expert

    Cold Cases

    Cases 31–40 · 10×10 to 12×12 floor plans

    The ones that stumped the department. Every deduction is there to be found – you will have to dig for it.

Murder at the Christmas Bookshop – English edition: spread of case 1 (easy)

Case 1 · Once Upon a Snowfall

Inside the book

One case, one spread

Suspect cards and their statements on the left, the bookshop floor plan on the right – with room for notes and a box for your verdict.

Stuck? Every case has a tip-off, and the verdicts at the back walk you through the solution step by step.

See the book

Questions for the detective

Before you take the case

Short answers from the case file. Anything else? Send us a note.

When will my book arrive?

The PDF arrives by email straight after checkout. The paperbacks of Murder at the Christmas Bookshop are coming soon, the Dutch edition first, shipped from the Netherlands: leave your email on the book page and we will send you one email the day you can order.

Is it a good gift?

Yes – a cozy puzzle book for anyone who loves books, crime stories and a good brain-teaser. The PDF arrives straight away, so it also works as a last-minute gift: print it, tie a ribbon round it, done. Every case has exactly one solution, so nobody stays stuck for long.

Paperback or PDF – how does the PDF work?

Murder at the Christmas Bookshop also comes as a PDF: the whole book – every case, tip-off and verdict – as A5 pages to print at home. You get it by email straight after checkout, together with the mini-ebook The Night Before Advent (also free to download on its own). Print the cases one at a time or all at once, in colour or black and white.

How much is shipping?

PDFs never cost shipping: the download link comes by email. Our paperback ships from the Netherlands: €4.95 within the Netherlands and €7.95 to Belgium; the rate is shown in your cart before you pay.

English, German or Dutch – what's the difference?

None in the puzzles: every language edition of a book contains the same cases. Our books come in English and German; Murder at the Christmas Bookshop also comes in Dutch. Pick the language you want to read the statements and solutions in when you add the book to your cart.

Which book should I start with?

Murder at the Christmas Bookshop: forty cozy cases in an old bookshop in the weeks before Christmas, starting with gentle warm-ups. New to Cludoku? The Cludoku Casebook and the themed books start gently too. Every book opens with a briefing and a fully worked Case Zero. Hard Cases is for experienced solvers only.

Is every case really solvable?

Yes. Every case has exactly one solution, and it can be reached by pure deduction – no guessing. Before a case is printed, two independent solvers check it. Stuck? Every case has a tip-off, and the verdicts at the back walk you through the solution step by step.

What does the book look like?

Murder at the Christmas Bookshop is full colour in A5 (14.8 × 21 cm), as a paperback or as a PDF to print at home. Each case fills a spread: suspect cards and statements on the left, the floor plan on the right, with room for your notes.

Can I return a book?

Paperbacks: you can withdraw from your purchase within 14 days of receiving your book (return postage is paid by you; damaged or misprinted books need not be returned). If a book arrives damaged or misprinted, we replace it or refund you. PDFs: you can withdraw within 14 days of your purchase, unless you agreed at checkout that the download starts straight away and confirmed that you then lose your right of withdrawal. If a file does not open or is faulty, write to us and we fix it or refund you. Returns and refunds.

Can I play online?

Yes – nine cozy cases at the Christmas bookshop are free to play in your browser, from easy to expert. They are not in any book. No account needed.