Detective Academy Logic Puzzle Book

Detective Academy is a 46-page logic puzzle book for kids, marked for ages 6 to 10, where 40 puzzles add up to one mystery. It opens with a letter accepting the reader into the academy and the news that the Blue Star gem was stolen from the town museum last night. The case file on page 6 lists four suspects: a museum owner, an opera singer, a gem expert and an old sailor.

Five sections, eight cases each

• Logic grids. Who has which pet, who ate which lunch. The first three use three children, the rest use four.
• Sudoku. Two 4 × 4 grids where kids draw flowers or animals, three 4 × 4 number grids, then three 6 × 6 grids.
• Patterns. Two pages of shape sequences, then six of number sequences.
• Mazes. Each path has to pick up three stars or three foods on the way to the finish, and later mazes add skull traps to steer around.
• Codes. Symbol ciphers and an A = 1, B = 2 number code. The final code names the thief and where the gem is hidden.

Each section starts at one star of difficulty and ends at three. The last case in each section gives a clue that rules one suspect out, so by the codes section the list is short.

Keeping track

After every case the child colors a numbered star on the badge wall. Ten stars make a Junior Detective, 25 a Senior Detective and all 40 a Super Detective. Six cartoon animal guides, a cat, rabbit, dog, parrot, owl and fox, give hints in speech bubbles along the way. The answers are on pages 43 and 44, followed by a detective report page and the certificate.

The printing guide says six-year-olds may need help reading the logic clues and the 6 × 6 sudoku rules. The bonus kit is for cutting out together.

Printing

Print single-sided, since kids write and color on every page. Turn on background printing in your printer settings, or the colored frames come out white. The book is in full color, but the guide says every puzzle also works in black and white. Card stock helps for the detective kit.