“Steam and Silence” is a Murdoku case from the Pool & Spa 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 7 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
H
L
Ch
Ch
Ch
R2
S
C
D
C
C
Ho
R3
S
D
Ho
R4
Ca
Sl
R5
Sl
R6
C
B
M
T
W
R7
C
B
H
R8
Ca
P
Di
Floor plan of “Steam and Silence”. Letters mark the objects; the key is below. A thick blue edge marks a window.
Rooms
Main Pool (outdoors) — 10 tiles: Water lily, Diving board
Sauna — 8 tiles: Hammock, Lamp, Deck chair, Carpet, Hot tub
Steam Room — 9 tiles: Chair, Hot tub
Slide Tower (outdoors) — 6 tiles: Shelf, Carpet
Massage Room — 10 tiles: Candelabra, Carpet, Bed
Objects on the board
C Carpet (can be stood on)
Ch Chair (can be stood on)
S Shelf (blocks the tile)
B Bed (can be stood on)
Ca Candelabra (blocks the tile)
D Deck chair (can be stood on)
H Hammock (can be stood on)
Ho Hot tub (can be stood on)
Sl Slide (can be stood on)
Di Diving board (can be stood on)
L Lamp (blocks the tile)
M Mud puddle (can be stood on)
P Parasol (can be stood on)
T Tent (can be stood on)
W Water lily (can be stood on)
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 grey hair, a beard and glasses
He was north of every deck chair, in the same room
Bernd — a man with blond hair
He was in column 4
Cyrus — a man with a bald head
He was north-west of at least one suspect who had glasses
Dylan — a man with blond hair and glasses
He was south-west of every slide
Elsa — a woman with red hair and glasses
She was beside a slide and she was in the same column as a slide, in the same room
Freya — a woman with brown hair and glasses
She was in a hot tub
Greta — a woman with black hair
She was beside a diving board
The victim, Veit, is a man. Nothing else about them is known, and no clue depends on it.
Clues About the Whole Scene
Every room held exactly 1 suspect.
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: 2 possible tiles
Bernd: 8 possible tiles
Cyrus: 58 possible tiles
Dylan: 5 possible tiles
Elsa: 2 possible tiles
Freya: 2 possible tiles
Greta: 2 possible tiles
The first deductions after that, in the order the solver finds them:
Cyrus is north-west of someone with a matching trait – impossible cells removed.
Alex: only row 1 possible – blocked for others.
Bernd: only column 4 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.