Mystery Game: Hollowmere

A cosy whodunit you actually solve. The portrait of Lady Maren has hung in the long gallery at Hollowmere Hall for ninety years, and this morning there are two of her: the same gown, the same green background, the same gold frame, hanging side by side where there was one. Somebody spent the night making a swap and wanted it seen. Five people slept in the house.

Walk the rooms. Each one holds a different puzzle, and each puzzle you solve writes a clue in your notebook.

In the long gallery you get twenty seconds with the real portrait before it is taken away, and then you answer for it: which shoulder, how many rings, what she is holding. In the kitchen the cook left the evening on a spike of paper slips, and you place five people in five rooms until the slips all agree. In the clock room a strongbox wants four figures and only one time is written down anywhere. In the study a torn note comes back together into two words. In the attic studio, four things on the restorer's table are older than the house sale and one is not.

Then you name your suspect. Four of the five are ruled out by something you found, so the last name standing is a deduction rather than a guess, and picking a wrong one is answered with the clue that clears them instead of a buzzer.

Nothing here is timed except those twenty seconds with the painting, and you can look again as often as you like. There are no lives to lose, nothing to fail, and nothing that punishes you for trying. When you are stuck, every room carries three hints in order: a nudge, a narrower one, then the answer.

Nobody is hurt at Hollowmere. It is a house where something was swapped and the worst thing anyone does is keep a secret badly, which makes it a mystery you can hand to a ten year old and still enjoy yourself.

Free, no sign-up, and the same case plays in your browser at brainpuzzles.games if you would rather not install anything.