The Captain’s Table

RMS Aurelian, mid-Atlantic · the captain’s dinner, autumn 1934 · the murderer was the only one alone · Difficulty: Inspector 8 · 12×12

Autumn 1934, the RMS Aurelian, three days out of Southampton and bound for New York. On the last night of the crossing the captain gave his dinner in the Dining Saloon, and Vittoria, the shipowner who had built the line from a single steamer, raised her glass to the voyage. Minutes after the toast she slumped on her chair, poisoned – with people around her, in the middle of the dinner. Eleven people were awake on board at that hour: five of the crew and six first-class passengers. All night long they had kept one another company in twos and threes – all but one, who had been alone, and who had slipped the poison into her glass. Who was it?

Rules

The victim collapsed in company; the murderer was the only person alone in an area.
Every row and every column holds exactly one person. As soon as you place someone, cross out their whole row and column.
“Beside” = directly left, right, above or below, and in the same area. Squares with objects (the lifeboats, the funnel, the winch, the helm, the telescope, the tables, the radio set, the desk, the cabinet, the stove, the oven, the sink, the counter, the piano, the champagne tower, the wardrobes, the trolley, the gramophone, the card table, the harp, the billiard table, the bookcase, the grandfather clock, the potted palm, the lifebuoys, the coil of rope and the bollard) cannot be occupied; the dining chairs, the armchairs, the sofa, the deckchairs and the beds can.

Statements

Archibald (the captain): He was with Frederika.
Bertha (the stewardess): She was not beside a bed. Exactly one row north of her was somebody beside a dining chair.
Caspar (the purser): An armchair was somewhere in his column.
Dashiell (the radio officer): He was on the Bridge.
Evangeline (the ship’s nurse): She was in the Cabins.
Frederika (an heiress): Somebody else in her area was beside the champagne tower.
Gertrude (a novelist): She was in the Lounge.
Horace (a banker): Exactly one row south of him was somebody beside the helm.
Ilse (an opera singer): Somebody else in her area was beside the card table. A deckchair was somewhere in her row.
Juniper (a film actress): She was in the first column.
Kasimir (a count): The harp was somewhere in his column.
Vittoria (the shipowner): The victim. She was found in the Dining Saloon, on a dining chair.

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