“A Murderous Birthday” is a Murdoku case from the House & Home category: a board of 9×9, 8 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: 9×9, rated Hard, with 6 rooms. Every person — 9 in all — takes a row and a column of their own.
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C7
C8
C9
R1
T
T
C
T
G
T
R2
C
B
B
T
T
R3
Tv
T
R4
G
T
G
R5
P
C
C
T
T
R6
C
G
T
P
R7
C
G
R8
T
B
B
C
T
T
T
R9
T
T
Tv
P
C
Floor plan of “A Murderous Birthday”. Letters mark the objects; the key is below.
Rooms
Bathroom — 6 tiles: Table, Chair
Kitchen — 15 tiles: Gift, Table
Living Room — 16 tiles: TV, Table, Gift, Chair
Guest Room — 8 tiles: Chair, Table, Bed
Bedroom — 18 tiles: Gift, Plant, Chair, Table, Bed, TV
Dining Room — 18 tiles: Table, Plant, Chair, Gift
Objects on the board
T Table (blocks the tile)
C Chair (can be stood on)
G Gift (blocks the tile)
B Bed (can be stood on)
P Plant (blocks the tile)
Tv TV (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 south of Floyd
Bernd — a man with blond hair and glasses
In his room there was another suspect on a chair
Carol — a woman with brown hair
She was alone in the room and she was in a corner
Dylan — a man with blond hair and glasses
He was beside a plant
Edison — a man with a bald head and a beard
He was in the Guest Room and he was alone with a male suspect
Floyd — a man with black hair, a beard and glasses
He was beside a TV and he was beside a bed
Grant — a man with a bald head
He was in the Bathroom and he was beside a chair
Hana — a woman with white hair
In her room there was a man
The victim, Victoria, 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: 54 possible tiles
Bernd: 44 possible tiles
Carol: 14 possible tiles
Dylan: 5 possible tiles
Edison: 6 possible tiles
Floyd: 2 possible tiles
Grant: 2 possible tiles
Hana: 54 possible tiles
The first deductions after that, in the order the solver finds them:
Anna is south of Floyd – 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.