My name is [G. T. Karber](https://gtkarber.com/). I am a Hollywood mystery writer and part-time programmer. I’ve always loved murder-mysteries, and have staged dozens of murder-mystery events in LA, including a monthly dinner theater at my local Himalayan restaurant.
Last year, I made a murder-mystery puzzle game for a friend of mine called [Murdle](https://murdle.com/). When I put it online, a lot of people liked it, and I ended up getting a call from a wonderful literary agent named Melissa Edwards who sold it to St. Martin’s Press a month later. Last week, the first one came out in bookstores in the US. It’ll be followed soon by a British edition this Thursday, and then translations in Italy, the Netherlands, South Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan! ([You can order it now!](https://murdle.com/book/))
This has been an absolutely wild rollercoaster ride for me, and I have learned a lot about how books were made, how puzzles are solved, and how to turn a webgame hobby into your full-time job. I would love to answer any questions people might have about murder mysteries, puzzle design, web art, book publishing, or anything else! I’ll answer questions starting at 2 PM ET.
PROOF: https://i.redd.it/38l0oq3rq27b1.png
UPDATE: I am going to take a break to go to yoga class. I’ll be back later on to answer any remaining questions, but I’ve really loved doing this, your questions were wonderful, and to the constant detectives: GSZMP BLF ULI VEVIBGSRMT!
by gtkarber
45 Comments
Who’s your favorite Murdler and why is it Babyface Blue?
What are some of your favorite puzzles or large scale puzzle-like adventures that are unrelated to your work?
Congrats on Murdle vol. 1! I’m having a blast with it so far and still an avid daily player of the online version.
If you were planning an all-day murder mystery party, what’s one movie you would watch, one board/card game you would play, and one video game you would play? Bonus points if you don’t say “Clue” for any of those 🙂
Where did the inspiration for Inspector Irratino come from?
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Who is your favorite murder mystery writer who is not particularly well known? Why does their work resonate with you?
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Dream cast for Murdle: The Movie??!
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Love the puzzles and the theming. But what’s the best way to look up the answer in the back to a puzzle I’ve completed so the next ones don’t get spoiled?
Do you enjoy other types of puzzles as well, like escape rooms or puzzle games, or really just murder mysteries?
How opposed are you to making a trip to Georgia, USA? I am the buyer for an indie bookstore and I bought your book for our store, couldn’t resist it, and ended up buying three more copies for the store.
We also do tons of murder mystery dinner parties. I would LOVE to combine one with your next volume release!
What was your biggest challenge going from your daily game to making a hundred of these for a book?
Hello!
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What’s your favorite murder mystery movie — and why?!
What was the trickiest/most difficult part of writing the logic for the puzzles?
Do you have visions about expanding the idea into a larger game? Maybe one with more narrative? Perhaps something along the line of Puzzle Quest?
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I love Murdle, and congrats on the book journey! I can’t wait to see where it goes.
Who are your favourite fictional detectives, and why?
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What’s your favorite part of your job?
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Which version is best for teens(in your personal opinion)game or written
From where did you get this story’s concept or idea?
How do I use the decoder ring?
As a connoisseur, when you’re consuming a mystery, do you generally know ‘whodunit’ before the reveal? Despite my love for them, I’m fantastically bad at it.
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When did you develop an interest in the mystery genre?
I was introduced to Murdle Vol. 1 last week when I saw Murder by the Book in Houston post about it on their Facebook post. I immediately ordered it, and then saw someting about the online daily game before the book arrived. I’m now loving doing the daily mini and regular versions, as well as making my way through the book. I love both the book and online formats.
My question is that as I’ve googled to find more and found the Reddit threads, I’ve seen you mention talking about things on discord. What is that?
Did the butler do it?
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Congrats on the book! Here is a question not about your book or any books: Who is your favorite detective from a TV show or movie?
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Whoa, came home to my pre order mug today. Very slick! What a great reward.
Howdy Karber – it’s been really surreal watching this grow from “what happens if we take this game and do it on paper?” to something that’s actually real and is now on my bookshelf almost a year later. ¡BL ML KLWIŔZ VHGZI NŹH UVORA!
Which did you feel was more challenging for you: writing the overarching plot and the texts for each of the thousands of cards in the game, or writing and debugging the code to help generate the puzzles themselves?
Do any of your Murdle stories come from real life? Are the characters based on people you know?
I usually loathe these types of puzzles, but this sounds really neat! Thanks for sharing with us.
Did you ever do the children’s logic puzzles that go in boxes and criss cross? (example: https://www.woojr.com/wp-content/themes/wp-pravda-child/images/shadow.png) I did a few as a kid, and murdle strongly reminds me of them, criss crossing and I wasn’t sure if I was alone in that or not.
Wow. That’s fantastic news. I hadn’t heard of it before. Congratulations!
Hadn’t heard of this – just ordered!
I’m excited to have my Forensic Science students do Murdles next semester! Congrats on the new book, it’s sitting on my table waiting for me to find time to deduce.
Thank you for introducing me to Murdle. I know how I’m spending the next few nights now (at least)
Wow, so you’re telling me I can finally live out my dream of being a murder-mystery solver without leaving my couch? How convenient!
Have you considered a PDF version of your books? I’d be happy to pay full price. I just love solving puzzles with my iPad/Apple pen/GoodNotes app rather than having a physical book. As digital markup becomes more common with iPads and remarkable tablets, pdfs designed to give a “handwritten digital puzzle experience” are absolutely golden!