Despite appearances to the contrary, SUDDEN DEATH SUDOKU is an actual novel, rather than one of the thousands of generic puzzle titles that cram booksellers’ shelves. It’s Shelley Freydont’s second in a series that began last year with THE SUDOKU MURDER. Both share a protagonist in math wiz Katie MacDonald, yet readers need not have read one to enjoy the other.
Katie has inherited the Avondale Puzzle Museum from her professorial mentor following his killing (as solved in MURDER), and as SUDDEN DEATH opens, she’s honoring his memory by running the inaugural P.T. Avondale Sudoku Challenge. Some 300 enthusiasts of the number puzzle have shown up to fill in grids for prizes, but one of them won’t be leaving town afterward. As in, ever.
On the first day of competition, Gordon Lott (no relation to this reviewer) — a pompous man with a reputation for cheating — takes the top spot in record time, but soon loses his plum spot when it’s discovered that he had one digit misplaced. He throws a big hissy fit, which taints the otherwise professional and sportsmanlike play.
Then, as the snow blankets the great outdoors, Katie stumbles upon a snow plow that uncovers an obstacle while trying to clear the streets: Lott’s body, dead from a gunshot wound. The police chief wants Katie to halt her tournament, but she refuses; however, she does agree not to spill the details of Lott’s death, saying a heart attack is to blame.
Odds are, of course, that his killer stands among the 299 remaining players. Could it be any of his teammates, angry that his error cost their team points? Or that blonde he’d been hanging out with and displaying butt-patting affection for? Or someone else entirely?
SUDDEN DEATH is a good, old-fashioned murder mystery — nothing more, nothing less. The whodunit angle drives the plot, rather than the characters, some of whom are here only to fill the small-town roles of Wacky Biddy, Sympathetic Cop and so on. Katie’s stress over the sudoku event is compounded by the Lott situation, as well as serving as surrogate parent to a 14-year-old math genius left behind by her dead mentor, and the constant woes of a living single.
While an incomplete sudoku puzzle became the clue to solving the first book, this sequel uses the pencil diversion as more of a backdrop than an interactive element. Still, each chapter is prefaced by a solvable sudoku — taken from THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF KAKURO, WORDOKU AND SUDOKU — if that’s your thing. Mystery’s more my game, and this one delivers a pretty decent one, with a slight cozy aspect, but not enough to dull its lead. —Rod Lott
Related posts:
- Do you Sudoku?
- Snakes on a Sudoku
- Forget Sudoku! Do you Kakuro?
- The Complete Picture Puzzle Box Set
- Death Song
