Tofu LabsThe case
Every October the village of Copperleaf gathers at the old cider mill for Pressing Day: the last apples of the year go into the great oak press, the tasting bar opens, a little travelling Ferris wheel turns by the barn and the whole valley comes with baskets on their arms.
This year the press stopped early. At 4:25 p.m. the miller, Edwin Marchbank, was found at the foot of the press-house ladder. The small brass tin that held the mill's handwritten cider recipe was open and empty beside him.
Nobody had left the orchard: the only gate was shut and minded since noon. Constable Maisie Rook took the mill's Visitor Book, 192 names with their village, hair, height, the apples in their basket and the cider they bought.
She found a few things the killer left behind. Each clue rules out part of the crowd. Apply them all and only one name will be left.
- Victim
- Edwin Marchbank, 81, miller at Copperleaf
- Scene
- The press house, Copperleaf Cider Mill
- Time
- Found at 4:25 p.m., Pressing Day
- Suspects
- 192 visitors in the Visitor Book
- Evidence
- 7 clues