After 80 crimes in everyday places and another 80 in past eras, Murdoku Volume 3, 80 Crimes para Resolver packs its bags. The subtitle says it all: Around the World (Volta ao Mundo in the Portuguese edition). Manuel Garand spreads the cases across every continent, with stops in Paris, Monaco, Kyoto, Botswana, Fiji and even Antarctica. The Portuguese edition, published by IN, came out in October 2026.
For anyone new to the series, the idea fits in one sentence: each page is an illustrated crime scene, divided into squares and rooms, where every suspect has to be placed in the right spot using sudoku logic. The article What is Murdoku explains the concept in more detail.
What stays the same
The foundations have not changed, and that is a good thing. There is still only one person per row and per column. The clues still come from the illustration itself: who was on a bed, who was next to a plant, who never left the kitchen. At the end, the victim takes the last free square and the culprit is whoever was alone with them in the same room. If you have solved the earlier volumes, you can start this one without revising anything, and newcomers will find the rules explained in the first pages. The guide How to play Murdoku still applies exactly as it is.
The number of cases also stays at 80, and so does the progression: the first puzzles are short and almost tutorial-like, the last ones demand real patience.
What changes
Settings that make you look twice
The first book had bakeries and casinos, places you recognise at a glance. The second had castles and pirate ships. Now you face a race track in Monaco, a house in Kyoto, a savannah with elephants or an icy scene with penguins. These are less obvious spaces, full of objects that are not part of daily life, which makes the first reading of each scene more demanding.
Twists in the harder cases
The original publisher's description mentions two new features in the second half of the book: suspects with secret identities and puzzles with more than one grid. Without spoiling anything, the idea is that the last few dozen cases are not just bigger, but different. If you reached the end of volume 1 or volume 2, Regresso ao Passado, you will notice your usual method needs a few adjustments.
Quick facts
- Title: Murdoku Volume 3, 80 Crimes para Resolver, Volta ao Mundo
- Author: Manuel Garand
- Portuguese edition: IN, October 2026
- 224 pages, paperback, 153 x 232 mm
- 80 cases, from easy to expert level, with solutions at the back
- ISBN 9789895745111
- Language: Portuguese
Who it is for
If you finished the first two books and were waiting for more, it is the natural next step. If you love travelling, the settings are a bonus. And if you have never solved a Murdoku, it also works as a starting point, because each volume is designed so that a beginner can jump straight in. For ages 12 and up, alone or in a group.
The book is already in the Murdoku collection at Loja dos Puzzles, alongside the first two volumes (all in Portuguese). Over the next few days, this blog will look at Volume 3 from every angle: settings, difficulty, rule changes and ideas for solving as a family.
