Killer Puzzles is one of the many spin-offs of Horrible Histories

Horrible Histories

Horrible Histories is a series of illustrated history books published in the United Kingdom by Scholastic. They are designed to engage children in history by concentrating on the unusual, gory, or unpleasant. The series has proved exceptionally successful in commercial terms...

and a new twist on the Murderous Maths

Murderous Maths

Murderous Maths is a series of British educational books by author Kjartan Poskitt. Most of the books in the series are illustrated by illustrator and author Philip Reeve, with the exception of "The 5ecret L1fe of Code5", which is illustrated by Ian Baker, and "The Murderous Maths of Everything",...

puzzles books including Suduku and Kakuro. They make the readers try to maths and logic puzzles. According to , to make the challenges worthwhile, each book has its own theme and if you solve every puzzle you find the big secret of each book. No general knowledge is required to solve these books, only logic and reasoning.

Books in the series

• Decode the Deadliest Joke in the Universe (1997)
• Find the Phantom of Ghastly Castle (1996)
• The Attack of the Killer Puzzles (1996)
• Titus O'Skinty's Gruesome Game Show(1998)

Decode the Deadliest Joke in the Universe

Each puzzle gives you the start of a joke — and if the reader solves it they will find the punchline elsewhere in the book. Once the reader has solved every puzzle correctly, they get the information they need to decode the deadliest joke in the universe.

Find the Phantom of Ghastly Castle

The reader starts at the gates of Ghastly Castle. As they solve the puzzles they are taken through the different rooms of the castle including the secret lake, the catacombs and the laboratory. As they go along they have to build up a map of the entire castle and eventually they will find there is one room that they cannot get to. This is the room that contains the Phantom. They will not be able to see it by flicking through the book, but when they have solved all the puzzles and discovered the haunted room, they will find how they can actually see the phantom right there on the page.

The Attack of the Killer Puzzles

The reader solves the puzzles and works their way around the book - but if they go wrong they are instructed to punish themselves. However, once they've solved every puzzle the book tells the reader how to sabotage it so that nobody else can complete it! They then pass it over to their worst enemies and make sure that they suffer all the forfeits!

Titus O'Skinty's Gruesome Game Show

Originally this idea was a spoof TV format whereby a really obnoxious host presents the most humiliating games for SMUG TV however, it was made into a book instead. If the player gets the puzzles right they'll avoid the maggot spray and the turgid bathwater and finally discover the mystery star prize. This book especially leaps to life thanks to some fabulously funny pictures by the artist Chris Fisher.