But Dan Stock from Ohio worked out that, in theory, the highest scoring Scrabble word possible is oxyphenbutazone, which, if the stars somehow align and all conditions on the board are just as they need to be, can get you a ridiculous 1,778 points. For instance, the highest scoring Scrabble word ever was played by Karl Khoshnaw in 1982: caziques, for 392 points. I am now a repository of absolutely fascinating and utterly useless Scrabble trivia. I watched many hours of Scrabble competitions, documentaries and interviews, read as much and as widely as I could on strategy and gameplay, and mapped out moves on a Scrabble board that I kept by my desk throughout the entire process.

How did you research that aspect of the book? What did you learn that surprised you? The Scrabble competition in Queen of the Tiles is suspenseful and incredibly detailed. The strategies employed by top Scrabble players have always fascinated me, and when you combine that with my love of wordplay, Agatha Christie mysteries and teen angst, well, that’s how Queen of the Tiles was born. Naturally, I ended up representing my school at a few competitions when I was in my teens as well. I remember many weekends spent ferrying him back and forth from our house to the Parkroyal Hotel in downtown Kuala Lumpur, where meets were usually held. Malaysia has a thriving, active Scrabble community, and as a teen, my older brother had been part of it. What initially sparked your interest in writing about Scrabble and the competitive Scrabble community? As Najwa continues to deal with her grief, she competes in her first tournament since Trina’s death, where she discovers that her friend may have been murdered-and the killer could be sitting on the other side of the Scrabble board. It’s the story of Najwa, a Scrabble whiz whose best friend, Trina, collapsed mid-game during the Word Warrior Weekend tournament a year ago. Malaysian author Hanna Alkaf’s Queen of the Tiles combines two irresistible elements: wordplay and murder.

Queen of the tiles hanna alkaf