“Murder Holds Court” is a Murdoku case from the Castle category: a board of 6×6, 5 suspects and one victim. Read the clues, work out where everybody was standing, and name the suspect who was left alone with the body.
The Board
The floor plan as the case hands it to you: 6×6, rated Hard, with 4 rooms. Every person — 6 in all — takes a row and a column of their own.
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
R1
W
W
B
C
B
R2
S
B
C
B
R3
Ba
W
C
Ch
R4
Ba
S
C
S
R5
T
T
C
R6
Ca
Th
Ca
Floor plan of “Murder Holds Court”. Letters mark the objects; the key is below. A thick blue edge marks a window. A dashed edge marks a door.
Armory — 9 tiles: Weapon rack, Suit of armor, Barrel
Castle Kitchen — 9 tiles: Barrel, Table
Chamber — 9 tiles: Bed, Carpet, Chair
Objects on the board
C Carpet (can be stood on)
B Bed (can be stood on)
S Suit of armor (blocks the tile)
W Weapon rack (blocks the tile)
Ba Barrel (blocks the tile)
Ca Candelabra (blocks the tile)
T Table (blocks the tile)
Ch Chair (can be stood on)
Th Throne (can be stood on)
The Suspects and Their Clues
Each suspect comes with what the witnesses remember. Read them all before placing anyone — a clue about one person is very often what pins down another.
Anna — a woman with grey hair and glasses
No one else in her room was a man
Bella — a woman with red hair
She was in the same row as a chair, in the same room and she was beside a bed
Carol — a woman with black hair
She was alone with a suspect who had grey hair
Dalia — a woman with grey hair
She was in the same column as a barrel, in a different room
Edison — a man with black hair, a beard and glasses
He was east of all women
The victim, Vanessa, is a woman. Nothing else about them is known, and no clue depends on it.
How Hard It Really Is
Deduction steps from the first clue to the verdict
Before anything else, count where each suspect could be if you only read their own clues:
Anna: 24 possible tiles
Bella: 2 possible tiles
Carol: 24 possible tiles
Dalia: 2 possible tiles
Edison: 24 possible tiles
The first deductions after that, in the order the solver finds them:
Edison is east of someone with a matching trait – impossible cells removed.
That is as far as this page goes. From here on it is yours — the in-game hint giver explains each next step if you get stuck, without giving the answer away.
This case has exactly one solution, and it can be reached by forward deduction alone — no guessing.