When it comes to detective credentials, Greg Karber has them in abundance, the kind of credentials you could hide a dead body with.
The Arkansas native, currently high on the Sunday Times bestseller list with his detective puzzle book Murdle, is the son of a judge and a lawyer. His grandfather was an FBI detective working in San Francisco in the 1960s.
Still, not even Karber himself, who writes under the name GT Karber, could have predicted that his idea for murder mystery puzzles, which are loosely based on the previous viral puzzle, ‘Wordle,’ would become a great success, and particularly with the British.
This week his first book, Murdle, published in the UK by Souvenir Press, was named Book of the Year at the British Book Awards 2024. It has been described as “completely addictive”, a “killer puzzle book for armchair detectives everywhere.”
Named Book of the Year at the British Book Awards 2024 this week, Murdle, a Whodunnit-themed puzzle book, topped the literary charts at Christmas… and it started with a doodle on a napkin.
It also surpassed in the non-fiction: lifestyle and illustrations category at the awards, and at Christmas, it beat the likes of Richard Osman and the Guinness Book of Records to top the book charts in the most lucrative time of the year.
Karber, who is also a part-time computer programmer and rates Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile as one of his favorite books, first wrote down Murdle’s basics on the back of a napkin in a cafe in 2022.
So how does it actually work? Like many murder games before it, readers/players are given a list of weapons, suspects, and locations to start.
Using a Sudoku-style grid and clues, they will have to try to figure out who is where and with what weapon.
GT Karber, also known as Greg Karber, first came up with the idea for a detective-themed puzzle while at a cafe in Los Angeles; Two years later, his website murdle.com and three puzzle books have proven to be a huge success.
Raised in Arkansas, Karber has the kind of background you’d like a mystery writer to have: He’s the son of a judge and a civil rights attorney, and his grandfather was an FBI detective.
After sending said coffee doodles to a friend, who suggested why one of the clues might not work, he used his computer programming experience to create code that would create the puzzles for him, eliminating any chance of human error.
The result was the website murdle.com, which is free and has a large following thanks to its daily puzzles.
Murdle’s success comes from the fact that while the puzzles are challenging, they are also not impossible, giving detectives the satisfaction of solving a fictional crime.
Souvenir Press editor Cindy Chan said she “had to have” a book deal with Karber after hearing about Murdle on a trip to New York.
She said: ‘That night I solved my first murder. I immediately wanted more. I was sure others would share my addiction.’
While the mystery writer himself remains relatively unknown; He has just over two thousand followers on his Instagram account, his star is firmly on the rise, thanks to the overwhelming success of his three book publications so far.
Speaking to Mail+ last month, he said: “I wouldn’t say it blew up immediately, but a lot of fans of murder mysteries and puzzles liked it.”
Pictured with partner Dani: Karber is currently on tour promoting his third book Murdle: Even More Murder Puzzles: 100 Cleverly Clever Murder Mystery Logic Puzzles
His background in computer programming allowed him to create a snippet of code to ensure his puzzles were always doable, error-free.
Karber, who shares his life with his partner Dani, also said he was surprised by how much the British public had rallied to Murdle, saying: “That’s a huge compliment.”
“Murdle is a love letter to British mysteries, so his success there is like hearing that your crush likes you.”
He published his first book in June last year, another in October and the third in the Murdle series, Murdle: Even More Killer Puzzles: 100 Cunningly Clever Murder Mystery Logic Puzzles, was published last week.
They already have a global audience, with the books translated into more than 28 languages. And mini detectives can participate too; Murdle Junior: Curious Crimes for Curious Minds is coming out in November, just in time for Christmas, of course.
Murdle: Even More Killer Puzzles: 100 Puzzles of Cunning and Mysterious Logic Now Available in Paperback
