“No Return from the Lake” is a Murdoku case from the Campground 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
C
T
W
R2
T
W
R3
T
M
T
M
R4
Ca
Ca
C
R5
S
S
S
C
Cm
C
R6
Ca
Ca
Ta
C
G
Floor plan of “No Return from the Lake”. Letters mark the objects; the key is below.
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 red hair
In her room there was another suspect in a corner
Bernd — a man with blond hair
He was north-west of every mud puddle
Cyrus — a man with blond hair and a beard
He was on a street and he was exactly 1 column west of Anna
Dalia — a woman with red hair
She was on a water lily
Edison — a man with black hair and glasses
He was alone with a female suspect
The victim, Valerie, 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: 33 possible tiles
Bernd: 2 possible tiles
Cyrus: 3 possible tiles
Dalia: 2 possible tiles
Edison: 33 possible tiles
The first deductions after that, in the order the solver finds them:
Cyrus was exactly 1 column west of Anna
Cyrus: only row 5 possible – blocked for others.
Bernd & Dalia: only rows 1, 2 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.