“Almost the Perfect Murder” 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 Medium, 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 “Almost the Perfect Murder”. 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 black hair
She was not on a toilet
Bella — a woman with black hair
She was beside a toilet
Carol — a woman with white hair
She was beside a washing machine
Dylan — a man with blond hair and a beard
He was on a bed and he was west of a carpet (R5/C8)
Edison — a man with black hair
He was in the same column as a TV
Floyd — a man with a bald head
He was north of a chair (R2/C2)
Greta — a woman with black hair and glasses
She was beside a lamp and In her room there was another female suspect beside a carpet
The victim, Viraj, is a man. 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: 49 possible tiles
Bella: 3 possible tiles
Carol: 3 possible tiles
Dylan: 3 possible tiles
Edison: 6 possible tiles
Floyd: 2 possible tiles
Greta: 2 possible tiles
The first deductions after that, in the order the solver finds them:
Floyd: only row 1 possible – blocked for others.
Carol & Dylan: only rows 7, 8 possible – blocked for others.
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.