Looking for Creative Problem Solving Scenarios? Read a Murder in Murloo & A Devious Mind

Are looking for creative problem solving scenarios? Read more detective stories and mysteries. Now that I have got your attention, I want you to read Murder in Murloo as well as A Devious Mind by Brigid George.  Problem solving and creativity are among  the top 10 skills needed for future jobs, so creating creative problem solving scenarios is really a big deal.

Murder in Murloo (Dusty Kent Mysteries Book 1)A Devious Mind (Dusty Kent Mysteries Book 2)

I love murder mysteries and read them all the time to hone my problem solving skills. I do not always arrive at correct solution, but when I pay careful attention to details, I do very well.  More than likely you have not heard of the two books, or even about the author, Brigid George, but please give the books a try. Brigid George is a pen name for JB Rowley.

I’ve talked about this before, but it is worth mentioning, that well-written mysteries and detective stories can hone your problem solving skills. The process of going through the clues, as they are revealed in the story, gives your mind an intellectual workout.

[Related Post: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie: How Murder Mysteries Can Help You Improve Your Problem Solving Skills]

Creative Problem Solving Scenarios: Murder in Murloo and A Devious Mind in a Nutshell

Murder in Murloo and A Devious Mind are books in a series. The main characters are Dusty Kent and Sean O’Kelly. Dusty Kent is a very successful author, and Sean O’Kelly is a skilled information technologist (Nice way of saying he is a hacker).

Families hire Dusty Kent to solve the murder of a loved one when the trail gets cold and the police are not making any headway. Dusty Kent has a 100 percent close rate record. She is like a dog with a bone, going at it until she is finished. She interviews everyone close to the victim, recreating what happened, and getting a sense of who the person was.

During the interviews, Dusty makes sure that she also gathers the right information that she can use in her books. The aim is that a reader may remember something, contacting the police to help solve the crime. However, Dusty does such a thorough job that she usually finds the killer before the book is published. That adds more content to her book, making it a bestseller.

In Murder in Murloo, Gabby Peters, a teller, is murdered in her home on a Sunday. It’s believed that it is someone she knew, who made it look like a robbery gone wrong. One year later, the police haven’t caught the killer. Dusty interviews all of Gabby’s close friends and family, but they all appear to have an alibi. With the help of Sean, Dusty is able to solve the murder.

In A Devious Mind, Marcia Hamilton, an international bestselling author is murdered. And a year later, the murder is also not solved. Dusty uses her problem solving technique to catch the killer. And Sean provides information that helps her.

In both books, the author, Brigid George, does an excellent job of sprinkling clues for the reader. There are times when Dusty Kent and Sean O’Kelly remind me of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. And at other times, Dusty reminds me of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot. When you are solving a problem, you gather a lot of information. Some of the information is essential and some are non-essential. You have to figure out which is which. You often reflect on the information to decide what is essential and what is non-essential. While working with the essential information, you often get clues about how to solve your problem. The next stage is to implement the solution.

 Murder on the Orient Express: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hercule Poirot Mysteries) The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hercule Poirot Mysteries) A Study in Scarlet (Wisehouse Classics Edition – with original illustrations by George Hutchinson) Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes

Further Reading

How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes: Lessons in Mindfulness and Creativity from the Great Detective

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, Book Review

In well-written mysteries, the author includes what’s called red herrings – non-essential information – to throw off the reader. Other times the author throws in information that’s important, but does it in such a way that the reader discards the information.

In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas Foster tells us that everything an author does has meaning. In A Devious Mind, I was surprised who Dusty Kent revealed as the killer. But when she revealed something the killer said, I remembered thinking at the time why he said that, then quickly dismissed it. In Murder in Murloo, I got a few of the clues, but I missed some of them. It’s important to ask, “Why,” a lot when problem solving.

Conclusion:  Creative Problem Solving Scenarios

What I realized is that I fell into a rut like most people. I was thinking like the herd, instead of processing what’s right in front of my eyes. In life, the people who do what everyone is doing, do not get the big rewards. We have to expect the unexpected and we will find it. Read both Murder in Murloo and A Devious Mind to see if you can figure out who the killers are. Both books and many other mysteries and detective stories, provide creative problem solving scenarios that you can use to hone your problem solving skills.

Brigid George Books

Murder in Murloo (Dusty Kent Mysteries Book 1)A Devious Mind (Dusty Kent Mysteries Book 2)Rippling Red: A Dusty Kent Mystery (Dusty Kent Mysteries) (Volume 3)

First Appeared on Birds on the Blog