Clues & Culprits › Archive › October 2026 › Oct 7, 2026 Hard
Oct 7, 2026 — Hard case
At a candlelit séance in Morrow Hall, the spirit of the late Sir Arthur Morrow told his widow to sell the family's racehorses to a wine merchant for a single pound. She signed the papers before the candles had been blown out.
This Hard case seats 20 suspects on a 4×5 grid. 16 of them carry a clue; the other 4 only have something to say about themselves. 8 of the steps can only be proven by reading two or more clues together. Every verdict you enter is checked against all the scenarios that still fit the statements on file, so a move only sticks when it is proven.
The opening statement
Gus the cook starts the case already proven innocent:
The person above me is innocent.— Gus, cook (C2)
The lineup
Suspects stand in alphabetical order, left to right and top to bottom. Each belongs to one of Clues & Culprits’ twelve character classes — the badge on their nameplate. This case uses 6 of them, each cast as a role in the setting: librarians, colonels, wine merchants, cooks, gardeners, butlers. Clues about a role (“exactly one of the cooks”) count everyone in it.
| Seat | Suspect | Role in this case | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | Ada | librarian | Scholar |
| B1 | Bruno | colonel | Enforcer |
| C1 | Cal | wine merchant | Merchant |
| D1 | Dev | wine merchant | Merchant |
| A2 | Esme | librarian | Scholar |
| B2 | Frank | colonel | Enforcer |
| C2 | Gus | cook | Cook |
| D2 | Hana | cook | Cook |
| A3 | Ivan | gardener | Laborer |
| B3 | Jasper | gardener | Laborer |
| C3 | Kofi | butler | Servant |
| D3 | Lena | librarian | Scholar |
| A4 | Mabel | cook | Cook |
| B4 | Nora | colonel | Enforcer |
| C4 | Otto | gardener | Laborer |
| D4 | Percy | wine merchant | Merchant |
| A5 | Quentin | butler | Servant |
| B5 | Rufus | gardener | Laborer |
| C5 | Sadie | butler | Servant |
| D5 | Theo | librarian | Scholar |
Stuck?
The in-game hint first points at the statement to re-read, then at the suspect you can prove, then shows the proof. For a gentler nudge, open the spoiler-free hints for Oct 7, 2026, or press Share to send a friend your exact board. New to the format? The deduction-puzzle guide covers the habits that unlock every step.
More cases
- Same day: Easy case · Medium case
- Previous Hard: Oct 6, 2026 — Blind Tasting at Château Morel
- Next Hard: Oct 8, 2026 — The Stories They Didn't Print
- Clue types in this case: Most-neighbors clues · Same-verdict and exactly-one clues · More-than clues · If–then clues
- All October 2026 cases · More cases in country houses · Meet the cast