The 8 best puzzle books for mind-bending, brain-teasing fun

NBC News

4 days ago

Whether it's Legos, puzzles, or board games, I love low-key activities that deliver a dopamine hit and require little physical effort. Puzzle books are just that — they're a great way to entertain and challenge yourself without relying on an app or a screen, whether you're at home, commuting or at the beach. If you're looking for a brain teaser to keep handy, I've rounded up some of our favorites below, including classic games like crosswords and sudokus, along with true crime, mindfulness and lifestyle-themed picks.
How I picked the best puzzle books
My list below includes four different types of puzzle books:
Visual: Think drawing and illustrations, including mazes, seek-and-finds, hidden pictures, spot-the-differences and more.
Word: Word puzzle books include classic linguistic brain teasers, such as crosswords, word scrambles, word searches and more.
Logic: Logic puzzles usually have straightforward rules that use deduction rather than guesswork, and include sudoku, decryption games, Nurikabe and more.
Variety: These books include a mixture of games and puzzles across the other three categories.
I also included puzzle books of varying difficulty levels, including easy puzzles (best for beginners), medium puzzles (trickier than easy but still doable after a bit of practice) and hard puzzles (which are puzzles that even enthusiasts may find challenging).
The best puzzle books in 2025
This list includes top-rated options and recommendations from NBC Select staff.
Best overall
Everyone loves the charm of classic puzzles like sudokus and word searches, however, true crime fans in particular will love the twists and turns of Murdle's puzzles. The book includes 100 original murder mystery puzzles consisting of maps, drawings, codes and more to assist you in rooting out each game's guilty murderer. The puzzles steadily increase in difficulty, and the book is part of a series of deduction-based Murdle puzzle books, including the college-themed Murdle: The School of Mystery and a Murdle Jr. series for kids.
NBC Select editorial projects manager Rebecca Rodriguez isn't a fan of difficult crossword puzzles, which is why she loves this compilation of easy ones from The New York Times. It includes 50 of the Times' Monday crosswords, the easiest of the week, making this a great option for beginners and experts alike. If your eyesight isn't the best, this book has an easy-to-read large print. Plus, its covered spiral binding can easily lay flat, which makes it easier to turn pages and solve puzzles on the move, according to the brand.
When I was a kid, I loved puzzle books like I Spy and Where's Waldo, which is what drew me to this adult-friendly seek-and-find option. It includes weekend scenes, such as brunching with loved ones and shopping for plants, with tricky challenges for spotting objects and people on each page, according to the brand. Each puzzle includes a list of ten items to find, along with detailed, double-page illustrations in which they're hidden.
If you're looking for a more diverse crossword puzzle book option, this compilation may be right up your alley. It features 300 brand-new crossword puzzles of varying difficulty levels from Simon & Schuster, the publishers of the first-ever collection of crossword puzzles, according to the brand. Although the book itself is large, the pages are perforated, so you can tear out puzzles to solve individually or while on the go, according to the brand.
Best relaxing puzzles
The Mindfulness Puzzle Book
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I love using puzzles as a way to unwind in my free time, and this puzzle book is designed to help you relax while still keeping your mind stimulated. Each puzzle in the book is selected especially because of their equal level of challenge and reward, which helps activate the mood-boosting endorphins in your brain to help you combat stress, according to the brand. It has a range of games, including standard puzzles like crosswords and word searches, along with more playful activities like mazes, spot-the-difference games, and even a few coloring pages, according to the brand. This book is also the first in a series of several Mindfulness Puzzle Books, including an e-book version.
This puzzle book originates from an online 'secret society of solvers' headed by M, who would post puzzles called Theorems online every week at midnight. This book is a compilation of M's classic Theorems, along with new ones consisting of encrypted messages, ciphers, brain-teasers and more, according to the brand. Each puzzle consists of an opening message, which contains clues and subtle directions, and a full-color illustration.
Best sudoku
Sudoku is one of my favorite kinds of puzzles — it's a number puzzle that involves filling in rows, columns and boxes with numbers from 1-9. The rules are also universal and unchanging. This book has over 200 puzzles across five difficulty levels, including easy, medium, hard, difficult and expert, according to the brand. It also has a spiral spine, which you can lay flat when solving on the go.
Best word search
Word searches are another classic puzzle type, which differ from crosswords in their lack of clues and straightforward solving. This book has 100 puzzles with themes specific to the year 2025, according to the brand. The puzzles are each individually made by a writer, rather than computer generated, and use over 4,000 more words than previous editions. The word searches are in large print, so they're easy to read for all ages and abilities, and each word search includes complete answers at the back of the book, according to the brand.
Why trust NBC Select?
Ashley Morris is an associate SEO reporter at NBC Select and a perpetual hobbyist who's written stories on the best puzzles for adults and the best beach vacation essentials. For this story, she researched highly-rated puzzle books across categories, and consulted NBC Select staffers for their puzzle book recommendations.