> Skip to content
  • Published: 6 January 2026
  • ISBN: 9781787305533
  • Imprint: Harvill Secker
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 128
  • RRP: $35.00

You Are The Detective

The Creeping Hand Murder

  • Maureen Johnson & Jay Cooper



A solve-it-yourself murder mystery puzzle set in 1930s England where the reader is the detective. Perfect for crime fans of Janice Hallett and Tom Hindle, and puzzle books in the vein of MURDLE.

November 1933, London. Seven people receive mysterious letters: Someone knows their terrible secrets. They are summoned to an opulent townhouse where one of them is stabbed right in front of the others, but somehow no one saw a thing. Can you help Scotland Yard solve the mystery?

*

Dear Detective,

Surely you have seen the papers and read about the murder of the American novelist Roy Peterson—stabbed while in a room with six other people, and yet no one went near him or saw the murder occur. The crime is so devious, so logistically impossible, that it seems to have been committed not by a person but by a disembodied hand.

I must confess that we are at a loss. Who wrote the poison pen letters that lured these seven people to this deadly gathering? What do a poet, an Earl, an actress, a cook, a telephone operator, and a lothario have in common? And how can a man be stabbed in a room full of suspects when none of them could have done it?

We have had our best people on the case, Detective, and we still can’t make heads or tails of it. We are giving this case file to you. Can you decipher the clues, decode the witness statements, and identify the murderer? You are our last hope. Can you help us crack the Case of the Creeping Hand?

Yours truly,

Detective Chief Inspector of the Metropolitan Police

*

An interactive murder mystery from the bestselling author and illustrator of Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village

  • Published: 6 January 2026
  • ISBN: 9781787305533
  • Imprint: Harvill Secker
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 128
  • RRP: $35.00

Praise for You Are The Detective

Solve this delightfully witty interactive mystery, packed with theatrical characters and exciting twists

G.T. Karber, author of MURDLE
penguin pop image
penguin pop image