The Sweet Shop

Tenby, Wales · a rainy August afternoon · the rock-maker never closed up · Difficulty: Rookie 2 · 6×6

A rainy August afternoon in Tenby. The little sweet shop by the harbour smelled of boiling sugar, its window stacked with jars of boiled sweets and sticks of pink seaside rock. Then, just before closing time, Valmai – who had boiled the shop's rock by hand for forty years – was found dead.

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 crate, the stove, the table, the jars of sweets, the counter, the scales, the sign and the street lamp) cannot be occupied; the stool, the doormat and the benches can.
3. The murderer was alone with the victim: nobody else was in that area.

Statements

• Angharad (a holidaymaker from Cardiff): She was sitting on a bench.
• Bryn (a harbour boatman): He was beside the sign.
• Ceri (the shop assistant): She was in the Stockroom.
• Dafydd (the apprentice sweet-maker, Valmai's nephew): He was not beside the table.
• Elis (the shopkeeper, Valmai's husband): He was beside the stool.
• Valmai (the owner, who made the rock): The victim. She was found in the Sugar Kitchen, beside the table – alone with the murderer.

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