“Viola, Act Two” is a Murdoku case from the House & Home category: a board of 8×8, 7 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: 8×8, rated Easy, with 6 rooms. Every person — 8 in all — takes a row and a column of their own.
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C7
C8
R1
S
T
T
T
S
L
R2
C
Ch+C
Ch+C
Ch+C
C
T
R3
C
T
R4
L
C
Tv
W
R5
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
R6
C
P
C
C
P
R7
To
C
C
B
R8
Wa
B
B
B
Floor plan of “Viola, Act Two”. Letters mark the objects; the key is below. A thick blue edge marks a window. A dashed edge marks a door.
Living Room — 20 tiles: Shelf, Table, Carpet, Chair, Lamp, TV
Hallway — 8 tiles: Carpet
Kids' Room 1 — 6 tiles: Carpet, PC, Bed
Kids' Room 2 — 6 tiles: PC, Carpet, Bed
Objects on the board
C Carpet (can be stood on)
T Table (blocks the tile)
B Bed (can be stood on)
Ch Chair (can be stood on)
L Lamp (blocks the tile)
P PC (blocks the tile)
S Shelf (blocks the tile)
W Wooden crate (blocks the tile)
To Toilet (can be stood on)
Tv TV (blocks the tile)
Wa Washing machine (blocks the tile)
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 brown hair and glasses
She was on a bed
Bernd — a man with blond hair, a beard and glasses
He was beside a lamp
Cyrus — a man with a bald head
He was beside a toilet
Dalia — a woman with blond hair
She was beside a TV
Elsa — a woman with blond hair
She was beside a lamp and she was beside a carpet
Freya — a woman with white hair
She was in the Hallway and she was in column 7
Grant — a man with blond hair and a beard
He was beside a washing machine
The victim, Viola, 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: 4 possible tiles
Bernd: 4 possible tiles
Cyrus: 3 possible tiles
Dalia: 3 possible tiles
Elsa: 2 possible tiles
Freya: a single tile — their own clue settles it
Grant: 3 possible tiles
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.