FREE MURDER MYSTERY LOGIC PUZZLE · CASE 02
The Copper
Kettle.
Step into a Water Street diner before dawn. Match four suspects to four objects and four places to discover who killed Pearl Coates.
A complete Easy case from One Fair Solution. No account needed. Three hints and the full answer are here when you need them.
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CASE 02 · EASY
Your case file.
The Copper Kettle.
Meet the suspects. Read the evidence.
See if you can close the file.
EARLY OCTOBER · THE COPPER KETTLE DINER
The Copper Kettle
Before sunrise, the Copper Kettle’s alley door stood open. Pearl Coates was dead.
An open alley door. A neatly closed till. Four people with unfinished business.
Read the full case
Before sunrise the Copper Kettle still smelled of yesterday’s coffee and the wet wool of early October. The diner sat mid-block on Water Street, a narrow room with a nickel counter and a window that filmed over whenever the lake turned the air around. Pearl Coates had owned it for nineteen years.
A milk truck found the alley door standing open. Pearl was on the bake-room side of the counter, and the till had been closed as neatly as she always closed it.
Linnea Maki came down from the Archive with her coat still buttoned. She had eaten Pearl’s oats and brown sugar on more winter mornings than she cared to count, and she did not like the way the room felt without Pearl in it, talking.
Rita Lang had waited tables since spring and had asked, more than once, for a key of her own. Cal Mooney started the ovens before dawn and had been feuding with Pearl about a bake she would not put on the board. Ned Park delivered the milk; Pearl had marked his tickets late, and he had marked her temper in return. Inez Vargo kept the books two mornings a week and had left a column of figures in pencil, half erased.
Linnea took the four names and the smell of scorched iron and sat down at a clean table.
The person who had the cast-iron skillet killed Pearl Coates.
FOUR PEOPLE. FOUR POSSIBILITIES.
Rita LangMorning waitress
Cal MooneyBaker who starts before dawn
Ned ParkDelivers milk and cream
Inez VargoKeeps the books two mornings a week
THE EVIDENCE
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YOUR DEDUCTION DESK
INTERACTIVEOne person. One object. One place.
Use the clues to find every match.
Each cell cycles: blank → × → ● → blank.
A nudge, not a spoiler.
Three hints, one step at a time.
CASE CLOSED. KEEP INVESTIGATING.
Another free case is ready when you are. Or open the full archive in the paperback.
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CASE CLOSED
Inez Vargo.
The cast-iron skillet. The alley doorway.
Clue 6 says either Rita Lang or Inez Vargo was at the front counter, but not both. Clue 5 already kept the cast-iron skillet out of Ned Park’s hands, the tea towel is at the front counter (Clue 2), and the pastry docker is in the bake room (Clue 1), so Ned had the sugar scoop. Clue 3 had already ruled the cast-iron skillet out for Cal Mooney and the tea towel is at the front counter (Clue 2), and Ned already has the sugar scoop, so Cal had the pastry docker. Clue 1 already paired the pastry docker with the bake room, so Cal was in the bake room.
Inez is the only person left who can have been at the alley doorway, so Inez was at the alley doorway. Clue 6 left the front counter to two other people, so Ned was not at the front counter, and Cal is already in the bake room and Inez is already at the alley doorway, so Ned was at the cellar stair. Rita is the only person left who can have had the tea towel, so Rita had the tea towel. Since Clue 2 tied the tea towel to the front counter, Rita was at the front counter. Once Rita has the tea towel, Cal has the pastry docker, and Ned has the sugar scoop, the alley doorway takes the remaining object, the cast-iron skillet.
Pearl Coates’s case is answered by the cast-iron skillet. That person is Inez Vargo, at the alley doorway.
Linnea paid for nothing, took no coffee, and left Pearl Coates’s name on a finished page.
A FEW FIELD NOTES
Before you close the file.
How do I solve The Copper Kettle?
Each suspect has one object and one place. Use the 7 numbered clues to rule out impossible pairings and find the matches. The known fact tells you which object identifies the killer. The story sets the scene; all the evidence needed to solve the case is in the numbered clues.
What if I get stuck?
Reveal up to three hints, one at a time, or use “Check my grid” to check your current marks. When you are ready, open “Reveal the solution & walkthrough” for the complete explanation and finished grids.
Can I play the cases in any order?
Yes. Each case is self-contained. Visit the free puzzle archive to play The Last Ferry, The Copper Kettle, and The Chandlery Book. The first case also has a printable PDF.
40 CASES · EASY TO EXPERT
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in the archive.
From Easy to Expert, explore forty original mysteries set in Copper Narrows. Large pencil-friendly grids, three hints for every case, and a full walkthrough when you need it.