Katie McDonald, her assistant Harry, and a slew of town volunteers have worked hard to put together the First Annual Avondale Sudoku Challenge. The tournament is a fund raiser for the puzzle museum where Katie is curator. The response has been outstanding and the tournament stands to bring in a lot of revenue for the museum and the town. Then one of the contestants is murdered and the police chief, Brandon Mitchell, wants to stop the tournament. Katie needs the tournament to continue and convinces Brandon that continuing the tournament will keep all his suspects in one place. But does continuing also put other players at risk? Are Katie and Harry asking to be next by trying to solve the mystery too? Can Brandon keep everyone safe while he tries to figure out why the player was murdered?

Ms. Freydont has done it again and charmed Sudoku and mystery lovers with her second Katie McDonald mystery. Although I enjoy working Sudoku puzzles periodically I never thought about a Sudoku tournament; what fun! It was very interesting to read about how a Sudoku tournament is run and what it might be like to compete. I may have to spend more time working my Sudoku puzzles! In this story, Katie and her assistant Harry are once again trodding on the toes of the police chief as they pursue answers to the ultimate puzzle; who killed the Sudoku player. The Chief is not amused and can’t understand why Katie can’t just leave the murders alone and let him do his job. But as one of the characters in the book tried to explain to the stubborn chief, puzzle solvers can not resist any kind of puzzle including a murder mystery. And as sparks once again fly between Katie and Brandon, I can’t help but wonder if there is a potential romance in the works? Whether you like Sudoku or not this series is a fun, charming, cozy mystery series that any mystery lover will enjoy. I hope Ms. Freydont is working on book three because I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next!

Reviewed by: Stephanie B.