Room for Murder Daily › All cases › Case #13
A Quiet Night at the Museum
Seven guests, one victim, and a floor plan that tells the whole story. Rest in peace, Sadie.
Sunday special: one suspect is lying — the killer. Everyone else tells the truth.
🔎 Solved by 4 detectives · median time 0:57 · 25% with no help at all
What the witnesses say
“She was beside a chair.”
“She was beside a desk.”
“She was beside a bookshelf.”
“She was in the Sculpture Garden.”
“She was beside a plant.”
Found dead — alone in a room with the killer.
The rules
- Exactly one person in every row and every column.
- Nobody stands on solid furniture; chairs, sofas, benches, beds and rugs are fine.
- Every statement is true — except the killer’s. “Beside” means the square directly next to it; north is up.
- The victim was alone in a room with exactly one other person: the killer.
Show the answer and the solution to case #13
The killer was Juno (the drummer) — the only other person in the Dinosaur Hall with Sadie. Olive: C6 · Yara: D3 · Lola: A1 · Ada: B5 · Juno: E4 · Sadie: F2.
How to solve it, step by step
- Sunday rule: exactly one statement is false — the killer's. Try each suspect as the liar in turn: every choice but one runs into a contradiction. Only Juno works, so Juno's statement is the lie and the truth is the opposite: “She was not beside any plant.”
- Olive: “She was beside a chair.” Only one square on the whole plan fits: C6.
- Yara: “She was beside a desk.” Of the squares that fit, only D3 is still open — the others are in rows or columns already taken.
- Ada: “She was in the Sculpture Garden.” Of the squares that fit, only B5 is still open — the others are in rows or columns already taken.
- Lola: “She was beside a bookshelf.” Of the squares that fit, only A1 is still open — the others are in rows or columns already taken.
- Sadie, the victim, has no statement — but only one square is left in a free row and column: F2, in the Dinosaur Hall.
- Juno: “She was not beside any plant.” Of the squares that fit, only E4 is still open — the others are in rows or columns already taken.
- Everyone is placed. Sadie lies in the Dinosaur Hall, and the only other person in there is Juno. Juno is the killer — and the one who lied.
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