JOIN / SIGN IN

Welcome to Foyalty

Earn a Foyalty Stamp for every £10 you spend in our shops or online*

Every 10 Foyalty Stamps you earn adds £10 to your Foyalty Balance

Spend your Foyalty Balance in our shops or online, with no minimum redemption*

*Exclusions apply, see full T&Cs for details.

Learn More

The Game Is Murder

Hazell Ward (author)

Hardback Published on: 21/08/2025

£16.99

21 reviews

Free UK delivery on orders over £25, otherwise £3.99

In stock
Usually dispatched within 1-2 days

Make and edit your lists in your account

No stock available in any shop.

In stock
Usually dispatched within 1-2 days

No stock available in any shop.

View other formats and editions

Synopsis

The Ultimate Locked-Room Mystery Where YOU Are the Detective!

THE MOST ORIGINAL, META MURDER MYSTERY OF 2025, PERFECT FOR FANS OF STUART TURTON, ANTHONY HOROWITZ AND AGATHA CHRISTIE

'A high-energy mystery, both exclamation point and question mark...a striking, playful novel' A.J. Finn

'The ultimate locked room mystery for all Agatha Christie lovers out there' 5* reader review

'Witty and remarkable and entirely unpredictable' Alex Pavesi

THIRTEEN GUESTS. THIRTEEN SUSPECTS. AN IMPOSSIBLE MURDER. A MYSTERY YOU MUST SOLVE - OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES...

What if a Great Detective reinvestigated the most famous unsolved murder case of the century?

What if that Great Detective was you?

You have been invited to a very special murder mystery party.
Thirteen guests have been gathered - rather, thirteen suspects.
But only one of them is a murderer. And only you can find them.

Your task is simple. Listen to the witnesses, examine the evidence, and solve the case.
Be careful. Trust no one. In this story, all may not be as it seems.

The ultimate murder mystery is yours to solve.
A word of warning, though - catch the killer, or face the consequences...

Why readers are loving THE GAME IS MURDER!

'A truly unique mystery novel that's unlike anything else I've ever read' 5***** reader review

'Offers a fresh and imainative spin on the traditional murder mystery (...) Fans of puzzles will especially enjoy the intricate design and the intellectual challenge of connecting the clues' 5***** reader review

'If you loved Clue, then this is the right read for you!' 5***** reader review

'Definitely a 5 star experience' 5***** reader review

Praise for THE GAME IS MURDER

'Strikingly original, but with nods to Golden Age crime...different, clever, and highly entertaining!' Guy Morpuss

'A postmodern puzzler that dares to pull apart every trope in the book - literally' Antony Johnston

'A remarkable, unique novel inspired by an infamous case' Nicholas Royle

Publisher information

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
ISBN: 9780241717868
Number of pages: 480
Dimensions: 242 x 162 x 41 mm
Weight: 703g
Languages: English

Customer Reviews

View all

Just made 4 stars!

I was sent an advance copy of The Game Is Murder by Hazell Ward to read and review by NetGalley. This is an intriguing and altogether different type of cr... READ MORE

lesleys

A very clever mystery

This book turns the classic crime novel on its head. There are several references to literature, characters, and films if you enjoy the murder mystery genr... READ MORE

Jim

Entertaining

To solve the greatest unsolved murder mystery, that is the role of this book. Of course it is a work of fiction, but the parallel is there. You are invited... READ MORE

K MacLean

Not for me

The reader is invited to a small gathering to help solve a mystery. Its a simple game, you must solve the mystery. Can you become the great detective and f... READ MORE

Kerry Henderson

Fun premise but so disappointing

‘This book is about YOU. You are the Detective here. It’s up to you to solve the clues. And why not? Why should we have to do all the work?’ I was so ex... READ MORE

KindigBlog

Annoyingly meta and confusing

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book. I do appreciate that writing a book is a lot of work and a labour of love and I ... READ MORE

am/am/am

Edit required

I liked the idea of the book but for me it rambled on far too long and I was not always sure the purpose of endless quotes and references to some far bette... READ MORE

Richard Angrave

Contorted Meta puzzle

You have been invited to a murder-mystery house party, although you don’t know anyone. Still you are a Great Detective. Or perhaps not. Who can say? Yo... READ MORE

Denis

Can you solve the murder

This is a murder mystery novel which involves the reader. As the Great Detective, you have been invited to a dinner party, at the home of Lord David Verre... READ MORE

Paula Sterling-stead

Quirky and just a bit bonkers

The Great Detective is invited to a dinner party in the hope of solving a decades old mystery. However as the plot unfolds there is far more to this than ... READ MORE

Jo-anne Atkinson

Good premise but disappointing

Thank you for letting me read and review this book on Netgalley. Title: The Game is Murder Author: Hazell Ward Rating: ⭐⭐ Genre: Mystery Thoughts: ... READ MORE

Molly

An interesting take on a puzzle mystery

Grateful ARC recipient Ah... I so wanted to love this one. I was really engaged and excited with the concept and for about half of the book it worked ... READ MORE

Marion McDonald

This reviewer received a free of charge product for review.

Loved the pre isle of the book but it didn’t work for me .

I really wanted to enjoy this book , it hooked me in when I realised it was based on the Lord Lucan case , but unfortunately it didn’t live up to my expect... READ MORE

Zoe Hitchen

Reading this was murder

Sadly, YOU are not the Great Detective. The book starts off in Second Person Singular but that’s all it does: this is not a Choose Your Own Adventure ™ nor... READ MORE

Huttson Lo

This reviewer received a free of charge product for review.

Can you solve the murder

This is a murder mystery novel which involves the reader. As the Great Detective, you have been invited to a dinner party, at the home of Lord David Verre... READ MORE

paula sterling-stead

Lucan decoded

Mea culpa, I broke the ‘contract’ with the author and skim-read much of the second half. Based on the Lord Lucan case, Hazell Ward demonstrates some impres... READ MORE

Jayne Southern

Too confusing to entertain me

This is an original format for a crime novel which I found too confusing to be a success. I felt the goalposts were moved too many times with David and the... READ MORE

Dana Farren

An original idea

I was quite excited to pick this one up, after all a book that puts the reader in the role of the Great Detective sounds fun. Therefore I was expecting som... READ MORE

Liz

Unusual and original

I don’t know what to say. I was dreading reading this book, having seen the fairly negative reviews- but actually, I did quite enjoy it. It is certainly ... READ MORE

Helen Williams

Complicated

In this mystery novel, you are invited to a murder mystery party at which you play the role of the Great Detective. The game is simple: Listen to the witne... READ MORE

Ella - The Story Collector

Go out for a walk instead

This wasn't for me. It was a hard-going, convoluted read which was frustrating and tiresome. Hard to like any of the characters and the fact it took me two... READ MORE

Charlotte Wilson

The Game Is Murder

Synopsis

Publisher information

Customer Reviews

You may also like...