Montague Island Mysteries and Other Logic Puzzles

I am not a genius, but I have also done a lot of logic puzzles. Often times, these sort of books (for example, stuff from Brain Games) are annoyingly easy, or you get stumped by unclear wording rather than challenging logic. Montague Island has 3 good things going for it that put it above many comparable puzzle books. 1. There is a plot. Loosely. Usually, at best, you get thematic books that reskin puzzles to be "Cold Case" themed or "Sherlock Holmes" themed. There is a consistent cast in Montague Island, and going through the puzzles linearly feel more rewarding, like you are progressing a plot rather than tackling an isolated puzzle. 2. The puzzles are more challenging. They are not insanely hard, but they do force you to use logic more than most of these books do. I don't recommend it for a first time logic puzzler, but if you are relatively familiar and comfortable with basic puzzles, you'll like this. 3. All puzzles have DETAILED solutions at the back of the book. Rather than simply showing you the solution (ex: Ms Peacock used Rope in the Kitchen), the solution walks through how you would arrive to the solution through the clues given (ex: Clue 2 states that Ms Peacock used either the Candlestick or Rope. However, we can eliminate the Candlestick when we look at Clue 4 with Clue 1. Therefore, Ms Peacock must have used the Rope). These kind of solutions really help you learn *why* you were stumped, and make you better at logic puzzles. As soon as I finish this book, I plan to buy the rest of the 4 books in this series. I highly recommend this for puzzlers who are looking for a fun challenge.

Loved it! I love logic puzzles and it's harder than the puzzle books I normally get. I liked that there was a running mystery through the whole book too. I considered buying it for my 14 year old who is just starting to show interest, but glad I didn't. This is not for beginners. I got her a puzzle book with different levels from easy to difficult. This one is mostly difficult puzzles. But definitely make sure you study the way things are worded. It makes a big difference in the ability to solve the puzzle. Edited to add: those reviews saying there are errors are wrong. They're just not doing it right. ALL of them are solvable. You just have to think outside the box. For the reviewer that said puzzle 2.3 had clues that don't fit--all the clues fit if you're reading it correctly. And the reviewer that said there was an error with the last puzzle and the clue should've been worded differently--it is completely correct. And the reviewer that said there were errors in puzzle 12.1 and that it should say that Jessica and Karen had 3 not 2 puzzles that they both "attempted but failed to solve" is also wrong. There are 3 puzzles they didn't solve, but one them wasn't attempted by one of them because they made the puzzle and no one who made a puzzle tried to solve their own. Bottom line: there are no errors but it IS very difficult.

Received the book a couple days ago and have not been able to put it down! Yet because each puzzle is quite tricky, I'm only about 25% through them all, so this book will definitely provide you with hours and hours of puzzle solving. ADVERTISED CONCEPT: I was drawn to the idea of a Mystery/Sleuth element tied into a puzzle book. So far, the execution of that concept has been the only bit of disappointment with the book, because there really isn't much of a story and the puzzles don't help you make progress on any case YET (maybe when I get closer to the end, it will reference things from previous puzzles - I will update my review if that is the case). PUZZLES: IMO, these are complicated puzzles but not impossible puzzles. If you are new to the idea of logic puzzles, I would recommend you start with something easier. Instead of providing a reliable or positively proven fact, most of the "grid" style puzzles in the book rely on negative statements (He did not do this), either/or statements (either this or that is true, but not both), and conditional statements (if P, then Q) to deduce the solution. The annoying thing about conditional statements is that the statement itself is still true when the antecedent is false and the consequent is either true or false (a quick refresher on truth tables may help you before you begin! LOL). The problems that I found to be the trickiest were ones that heavily used conditional statements AND made you doubt whether the conditional statement was true or false (For example, you are told that among the group of 7 statements, 6 are definitely true but the statement from the guilty party may or may not be true, and you are not told which of the 7 are guilty or innocent). Often, you have to follow things down a couple different possible paths (Path 1: If A then B, If B then C, but I know C contradicts a truthful statement, so Path 1 must be wrong, therefore Path 2 is correct). Sometimes it feels like you are doing a lot of work just to rule out one of several possibilities as opposed to doing work to prove one thing correct. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just a less enjoyable/fulfilling style of problem solving for me personally. However, these criticisms are minor. I have not encountered any typos in the book so far, and I appreciate that there is some variety in style. CONSTRUCTION: I appreciate the spiral binding which makes it easy to fold the book in half to concentrate on just the right or left side. The print and diagrams are all very readable. Some scratch paper at the back of the book or a blank page accompanying some of the more involved problems that involve calculations (Ex: Puzzle 3.3) would have been icing on the cake, but again that's a personal preference. OVERALL: If you are looking for something simple to do to relax, I would probably advise you avoid this book. However, if you like challenging puzzles that require a lot of thought, I recommend you give this a try.

I love this book because while they’re all logic puzzles, they go beyond the standard grid format. This has been a real challenge and has gotten me out of my comfort zone. I’ll be buying them all, especially because I haven’t found anything else like these. Other books are either all grid, or a mix of things like crossword puzzles and sudoku.

I love the variety of logic puzzles given in this book. They are all logic puzzles, but not all of them incorporate the grid that one tends to associate with logic puzzles. Some require you to use a separate diagram (like a map or floor plan) and others require you to deduce the true statement from a pair of statements. In addition, a majority of the puzzles require you to "look beyond" what is given in the actual clues to eliminate possibilities, which I thought was a fun challenge. For this reason, beginners will find this puzzle book to be too frustrating, so I don't recommend it for those people. It can be slightly challenging to understand the set-up of a few of the puzzles because of the complexity of the assumptions, but I was able to figure out what I was supposed to do after re-reading the directions several times. There was only one puzzle that I couldn't start, and less than a handful that I couldn't complete on the first attempt. The puzzles overall are set up quite nicely and all have a unique solution that can be found through trial and error if need be. The only exception to this (that I found) is the puzzle called “The Puzzle Game” which has one error given in the last clue. The clue says that “there were two puzzles that Jessica and Karen both attempted but failed to solve.” The clue should say three instead of two. As a side note, this book is very well made. The paper is heavy, the graphics are well done, the spiral binding is convenient, the font is large and easy to read, and the solutions in the back are comprehensive and easy to understand. Overall, this a quality book and I recommend it to those people who find joy in working out their brain with logic puzzles. In my opinion, this book is undervalued and should certainly be selling at a much higher price than what it is currently being sold for (just $7.16!)

concept is cool, puzzles are challenging, nice flowing story line. HOWEVER, the product itself is kinda crappy. the book is too large in height and width, and the cover is not conducive for comfort is weird and folds over a spiral, which makes it hard to hold if you are traveling. It is fine if you are laying it on a flat surface. pages are nice and thick. I would not have purchased it if I had seen it in person.

This is a fun logic puzzle book. Some if them are pretty difficult but there is a wide variety of puzzles in this book.

I bought this book to wind down before bed, and this was not the right book for the job. I'm pretty good and standard logic puzzles, but these are TOUGH and keep me up as much as screen time does. So it hasn't been good for before bed, but it's super entertaining for vacations and rainy Saturdays. The puzzles come in various types. Several of them are logic grid puzzles, usually with a twist, like a given attribute belonging to multiple people, or having to use seating charts or maps to provide extra info or constraints. Many are based on reconciling statements where one person is lying. As another reviewer pointed out, sometimes you may have to posit who the liar is, then work through the consequences to confirm or rule them out. That didn't bother me, but apparently it bothers some people, so be aware. I didn't find the frame story that engaging in itself, but it adds a nice flavor to the puzzles. The spiral binding makes it really comfortable to use. I just wish they had more white space. I needed extra paper to work through my ideas for many of the puzzles. The paper was held up to multiple rounds of erasing, which was definitely needed! I also liked that the answer key includes an explanation of each solution. When I got stuck, that gave me enough of a clue to work the rest of my way through the puzzle without taking the enjoyment out of the process. I hope they come out with a volume 2 someday!

Editing this because eventually I found myself enjoying this book a lot. Getting one thing out of the way.. I found the cover art intriguing but the setting and story is incredibly boring and not well written. That's not a big issue for me since I mainly want to do puzzles but I will also not ignore the story in a story puzzle book. First of all: I love a ton of the puzzles, especially the grid puzzles are fun. But the quality of puzzles varies sometimes in my opinion. English isn't my first language but I rarely find myself struggling with the english books I read or the english puzzles I solve. This one made me question my language skills from time to time. Not because of some complex prose but because I found some writing kind of confusing. The puzzles are more challenging, yes. But I find myself wondering if my english is THAT bad or if some of the puzzles hints are just worded very poorly. Sometimes there was information disclosed in the solution that I could not for the life of me get out of the statements in the puzzle itself, even when going over the solution and the puzzle several times. The wording in those instances is too vague and/or leaves room for different interpretations that make the intended interpretation not as clear as the solution suggests. That made solving some of the puzzles frustrating to me. I like a good challenge and I appreciate tricky puzzles that make me go "ooh I didn't see that!" when I take a look at the solution. This one just made me go "why would on earth would you word it in this way then?" a few times too often for my tastes. I did a actually end up buying the other books of the series and they all repeated this experience for me so far. Amazing puzzles, except when they are not.

I love logic puzzles, but I find a lot of logic puzzle books too easy. This book is great, as it provides just the right amount of challenge- the puzzles are tough enough that they require some real concentration and thought, but they're not frustratingly hard, either. I also really like that they're strung together with a bit of a narrative- that made them more enjoyable, and I found myself quite hooked in. I also like that the book is spiral bound so it lies flat, and the paper is nice quality too. All in all, a great book. I'd definitely recommend it if you're experienced with logic puzzles; if you're a beginner, I'd suggest going with another option.

Challenging puzzles to complete , fun and thought provoking.

I really liked the cover art haha. As for the story and puzzle I am only starting it and enjoying so far.

Challenging logic puzzles that definitely get the grey cells working, and nice to have a story line to follow throughout the book as well. These are advanced logic puzzles so if you are not used to them, and also the grid type, I would suggest doing an easier logic puzzle book first.