The Snowman Tells No Tales

“The Snowman Tells No Tales” is a Murdoku case from the Ski Resort 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.

C1C2C3C4C5C6C7C8
R1PlChChFWFr
R2CTTCCT
R3LCChChCWT
R4TPaSShCSk
R5PTPSCCa
R6PaSkSk
R7SSn
R8SnS
Floor plan of “The Snowman Tells No Tales”. Letters mark the objects; the key is below.

Rooms

  • Tavern — 15 tiles: Plant, Chair, Fireplace, Carpet, Table, Lamp
  • Hut Kitchen — 9 tiles: Wooden crate, Fridge, Carpet, Table
  • Sun Terrace (outdoors) — 9 tiles: Table, Parasol, Park bench
  • Ski Rental — 9 tiles: Shelf, Carpet, Ski rack, Cash register
  • Piste (outdoors) — 16 tiles: Sled, Snowman
  • Sledding Run (outdoors) — 6 tiles: Sled

Objects on the board

  • C Carpet (can be stood on)
  • T Table (blocks the tile)
  • Ch Chair (can be stood on)
  • S Sled (can be stood on)
  • Sk Ski rack (blocks the tile)
  • P Park bench (can be stood on)
  • W Wooden crate (blocks the tile)
  • Pa Parasol (can be stood on)
  • Sn Snowman (blocks the tile)
  • Ca Cash register (blocks the tile)
  • F Fireplace (blocks the tile)
  • Fr Fridge (blocks the tile)
  • L Lamp (blocks the tile)
  • Pl Plant (blocks the tile)
  • Sh Shelf (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 white hair

  • She was not beside a cash register

Bernd — a man with blond hair

  • He was beside a plant

Cyrus — a man with grey hair and glasses

  • He was beside a sled

Dalia — a woman with blond hair

  • She was under a parasol

Elsa — a woman with red hair and glasses

  • She was north-east of a shelf, in a different room and she was north of a lamp, in a different room

Floyd — a man with a bald head

  • He was in the same column as a snowman, in the same room

Grant — a man with a bald head

  • He was in the same column as a fridge, in a different room

The victim, Vita, is a woman. Nothing else about them is known, and no clue depends on it.

Clues About the Whole Scene

  • No room was empty.

How Hard It Really Is

Deduction steps from the first clue to the verdict
23
Steps before anyone can be placed for certain
14
Reasoning the solve needs

How to Start — Without Spoilers

Before anything else, count where each suspect could be if you only read their own clues:

  • Anna: 44 possible tiles
  • Bernd: 2 possible tiles
  • Cyrus: 9 possible tiles
  • Dalia: 2 possible tiles
  • Elsa: 2 possible tiles
  • Floyd: 2 possible tiles
  • Grant: 2 possible tiles

The first deductions after that, in the order the solver finds them:

  1. Bernd & Elsa: only rows 1, 2 possible – blocked for others.
  2. Floyd & Grant: only rows 7, 8 possible – blocked for others.
  3. Elsa: only column 7 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.

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