“Murder in a Minor Key” is a Murdoku case from the House & Home 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 Medium, with 2 rooms. Every person — 6 in all — takes a row and a column of their own.
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
R1
C
T
C
T
T
C
R2
Ca
C
C
C
R3
Ca
Ca
P
R4
Tv
Ca
Ca
P
Tr
R5
S
S
S
S
S
R6
T
Floor plan of “Murder in a Minor Key”. Letters mark the objects; the key is below.
Rooms
Living Room — 21 tiles: Chair, Table, Carpet, Piano, TV
Study — 15 tiles: Carpet, Trash can, Shelf, Table
Objects on the board
C Chair (can be stood on)
Ca Carpet (can be stood on)
S Shelf (blocks the tile)
T Table (blocks the tile)
P Piano (blocks the tile)
Tr Trash can (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.
Alex — a man with brown hair, a beard and glasses
In his room there was another suspect in a corner
Bernd — a man with blond hair and a beard
He was beside a piano. Another suspect was beside the same piano.
Carol — a woman with blond hair
She was south of all men
Dalia — a woman with brown hair and glasses
She was south of Bernd
Elsa — a woman with white hair and glasses
She was beside a chair and she was north-west of every piano
The victim, Valentin, 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:
Alex: 23 possible tiles
Bernd: 3 possible tiles
Carol: 23 possible tiles
Dalia: 23 possible tiles
Elsa: 3 possible tiles
The first deductions after that, in the order the solver finds them:
In row 5 only R5/C1 is free – someone must be there, so column 1 is taken: the other cells of that column are crossed out.
Carol is south of someone with a matching trait – impossible cells removed.
Dalia is south of Bernd – 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.