Seeking 5-10 Murder Mystery/Puzzle Solving Fans:

Here’s your chance to help perfect a flagship

murder mystery volume

THIS WEEK!

 

 

REQUEST FOR BETA SOLVERS

FOR A NEW MURDER MYSTERY/PUZZLE SOLVING BOOK

My best friend Lisa Twining has just written a puzzle book with two murder mystery cases in it.
She is looking for five to ten volunteers who are murder mystery + puzzle lovers to beta solve the puzzles and let her know a) how well you liked it, and b) where you think it can be improved or if something didn’t work out for you before she publishes so her flagship offering in this specific genre will be the absolute best it can be.

If this first volume passes muster with you, she will be writing a series of them. You can get those volumes, too, for free, in exchange for serving as volunteer beta solvers for them, too.

You will need to be able to print the puzzles in order to solve them! The puzzles consist of Word Searches, Cryptograms, Fill-ins, Hidden Phrases, and Sudoku.

If you’re interested, here are Lisa’s absolute must haves:

1.) Lisa needs beta solvers who can absolutely commit to going through the book within two weeks of receiving it. (It will be emailed to you to beta solve immediately.) This is because she wants to publish ahead of the upcoming holiday season, so she needs time to schedule publishing and marketing into her work calendar.

2.) Lisa will include (along with the 91 page volume) a short questionnaire that she will want you to answer with utmost candor and transparency. (Don’t worry about bruising her ego. She is looking for critiques that will help her improve the volume, if there is anything you spot in it that you feel can be improved!)

There will also be room there to express anything else that you want to. The answer key will be ready in the next couple of days and will be sent separately.

That’s it! Lisa plans at least four volumes, and they will eventually be translated into Spanish, as well. But we’ll find fluent Spanish speakers for those volumes.

If you know any fluent Spanish speakers who share your passion for murder mysteries and puzzles, please ask them if they’re interested in becoming beta solvers. If they are, send them Lisa’s email contact info, which is fearnotechATgmailDOTcom.

Thank you for your help! Feel free to forward this to someone else you know who would be interested in this if it doesn’t float your boat.

If you need a little more information to decide whether or not to engage, here it is, and you can always send Lisa an email if you need additional information:

MURDER MOST WICKED

A Note for Beta Solvers

First, thank you for agreeing to Beta test Murder Most Wicked!

This is a Beta edition, which means it has not yet received its final editing and formatting pass. You may encounter inconsistencies in capitalization, spacing, formatting, narrative placement, or other cosmetic details. (Example: the graphic showing the floor plan of Blackwood Manor is the incorrect one.) Those are still being corrected.

You do not need to report minor cosmetic or formatting issues unless they interfere with your ability to understand or solve the case.

What I really need from you is your experience as a mystery solver!

As you work through the case, please pay particular attention to:
• Whether the puzzles are clear and solvable.
• Whether the puzzle difficulty feels appropriate.
• Whether the evidence and clues make sense as they are revealed.
• Whether anything contradicts information you learned earlier.
• Whether you ever feel you are missing information necessary to continue.
• Whether the suspects remain plausible as the investigation progresses.
• Whether you feel as though you are actually investigating a murder rather than simply completing a collection of puzzles.
• Whether there is enough evidence to fairly identify the killer.

Please do report factual contradictions, confusing instructions, puzzle errors, missing information, or anything else that prevents you from solving the mystery fairly.

You will need to print the puzzle pages in order to solve them! They consist of Word Searches, Fill-ins, Hidden Phrases, Cryptograms, and Sudoku. Each puzzle holds a clue or information you can use to find the killer.

One Important Request

Please try not to consult the Answer Key until you have completed the case and identified your suspect!

I especially want to know who you believed the killer was and why, even if your conclusion turns out to be wrong. A wrong accusation can tell me just as much about the mystery as a correct one.

Once you have finished, please complete the Mystery Case Beta Solver Checklist.

In addition to the questions on the checklist, please answer these:

When did you first suspect the culprit?
Puzzle/evidence #: _________
What first made you suspicious?

Did any suspect seem obviously guilty or obviously innocent too early? If yes, who and when?

At any point, did you feel you lacked information needed to continue the investigation? If yes, where?

How did the length and pacing of the case feel?
Too short About right Too long

Most importantly, please be candid! You will not hurt my feelings by finding something that doesn’t work. Finding those problems now is exactly why you’re receiving the book before everyone else does.

Thank you for helping me make Murder Most Wicked a better mystery-solving experience!

Now go solve some murders!