The Photo Studio

A portrait studio in Vienna · a rainy April morning in 1924 · the lamps were warming up · Difficulty: Rookie 1 · 5×5

Vienna, a rainy morning in April 1924. In the portrait studio on the Kärntner Straße the big wooden camera stood ready, the studio lamp was warming up and the make-up artist was laying out her powders. Valeska, the operetta diva of the season, had come to collect her portraits – and to announce that she would sue the studio for the retouching that made her look ten years older. A few minutes later she was found dead in the reception, beside the chair. Four people were in the studio, and each gave one short statement – find the one who was alone with her.

Rules

1. Every row and every column holds exactly one person. As soon as you place someone, cross out their whole row and column.
2. “Beside” = directly left, right, above or below, and in the same area. Squares with objects (the camera, the studio lamp, the desk, the dressing table and the wardrobe) cannot be occupied; the chair, the stool, the sofa and the armchair can.
3. The murderer was alone with the victim: nobody else was in that area.

Statements

• Adalbert (a retired colonel waiting for his passport photo): He was in the Waiting Corner.
• Blanka (a bride-to-be sitting for her engagement portrait): She was sitting on the stool.
• Cyprienne (the make-up artist): She was beside the dressing table.
• Dieter (the photographer who owned the studio): He was not beside the chair.
• Valeska (an operetta diva who had come for her portraits): The victim. She was found in the Reception, beside the chair – alone with the murderer.

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