Scenedoku

Crime-scene logic cases

Hurricane Night

Harbour Island · a hurricane night · one person to a room – and one room stayed empty · Difficulty: Inspector 7 · 10×10

Dunmore Town on Harbour Island, the night the hurricane came through. When the power failed at nine, Vernice, who had run the old clapboard guesthouse for thirty years, handed out the hurricane lanterns and sent everyone to sit out the storm, one person to a room – nobody was to wander the dark house. By dawn the wind had dropped, and Vernice was found dead.

Rules

  1. Every area held at most one person, except the victim’s area.
  2. Every row and every column holds exactly one person. As soon as you place someone, cross out their whole row and column.
  3. “Beside” = directly left, right, above or below, and in the same area. Squares with objects (the lanterns, the wardrobes, the chests, the potted plants, the mirror, the radio set, the bookcase, the painting, the table, the counter, the grandfather clock, the stove, the sink, the fridge, the barrel) cannot be occupied; the chairs, the benches, the sofa and the beds can. A corner of an area is a square of it that faces outwards (another area or the edge of the board) on a horizontal and on a vertical side.
  4. Directions refer to rows and columns, not to the same line: “exactly one row north of him was somebody beside the painting” = in the row right above his, in any column, somebody was beside the painting.
  5. The murderer was alone with the victim: nobody else was in that area.

Statements

  • Anthonique (schoolteacher from Nassau): A bed was somewhere in her area. She was not in the Bimini Room.
  • Bradley (banker from Freeport): He was the only man beside a bed.
  • Chandra (straw-market vendor): She was the only woman beside a bed. A bed was somewhere in her column.
  • Delano (regatta sailor): The fridge was somewhere in his area.
  • Eldece (nurse from Eleuthera): She was in a corner of her area.
  • Franklyn (handyman): A chest was somewhere in his area. A bed was somewhere in his column.
  • Glenys (cook): She was not beside a bench. A chest was somewhere in her column.
  • Hezekiah (barman): He was not sitting. A chair was somewhere in his area.
  • Ishmael (night porter): Exactly one row north of him was somebody beside the painting. He was beside a chair.
  • Vernice (innkeeper): The victim. She was found in the Parlour, beside the radio set – alone with the murderer.

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