Category Archives: Monday Mystery

Note: Last time Hugh chose a medium mystery.

The Case:

Inside the charred remains of an old, dilapidated boarding house is a grisly sight. The burned bodies of three elderly men and one middle-aged man are in the parlor. The middle-aged man has a bullet hole in his head, but none of the other bodies show any apparent sign of foul play.

The Mystery:

Who was the middle-aged man and why was he killed? And what role did the other three men play in the story?

The Solution:

Jake ran a boarding house. One day, his oldest tenant died just as he was signing his two retirement checks. After Jake cashed the man’s checks, a brilliant scheme popped into his head. He would put the old man’s body in his freezer and continue to pretend he was alive, forging his name to cash his checks every month. If investigated, Jake could thaw out the body and say the old man had recently died.

Before long, Jake was doing this for three deceased tenants, all of whom had died of natural causes and were preserved in the basement freezer. Then disaster struck. The son of one of the old men arrived on the scene. When the middle-aged man insisted on seeing his father, Jake panicked and shot him. His scam was over.

Hoping to hide his crime, Jake placed the three frozen corpses in the parlor with the man he had just shot. Then he set the whole place on fire, counting on the fire to thaw out the bodies.

Hint #1: The boarding house had a freezer in the basement.
Hint #2: 26.08.2020

Note:

You’re free to ask anything, (please keep it to one question a post for simplicity’s sake,) but Jurd can only answer your questions with:

• Yes
• No
• Yes and No
• Irrelevant
• I don’t know
• Rephrase your question
• Define what you mean by…

Disclaimer: Monday Mysteries are culled from the 1993 Milton Bradley game, Crack the Case – but don’t go peeking.

Skinner Co. makes no claim to the intellectual property presented here, we’re just a number of friends playing a board game in a digital living room.

Note: Last time Encaf1 chose a medium mystery.

The Case:

Bonnie is found dead on a beach. Upon investigating a nearby motel room, police arrest Clyde, its occupant, for her murder. Among the incriminating evidence are a partially-used bottle of sleeping pills, white paint, and a brush.

The Mystery:

How was Bonnie murdered?

The Solution:

Bonnie and her husband Clyde were vacationing in Myrtle Beach while Bonnie participated in yet another beauty contest. The night before, while Bonnie was in for a facial, Clyde visited the motel bar. There he overheard the upcoming contest’s emcee reciting the names of the contestants who were trying to influence him with sexual favors. Near the top of the list was (you guessed it) Clyde’s wife, Bonnie!

Seething with anger, Clyde returned to the motel room with a tube of white acrylic paint and a bottle of #2 sunscreen. He then secretly painted a “0” after the “2” on the sunscreen’s label.

The next morning, before Bonnie left for her first sunbathing session on the beach, Clyde slipped three sleeping pills into her coffee. He then convinced her to use the “20” sunscreen “to protect her skin.” Bonnie drank the coffee, slathered on the sunscreen, and hit the beach, where she immediately fell fast asleep for several hours. Bonnie died of a third-degree sunburn – and Clyde took the heat.

Hint #1: Clyde took liberties with a label
Hint #2: Clyde was burned up at Bonnie; his revenge burned Bonnie up, too

Note:

You’re free to ask anything, (please keep it to one question a post for simplicity’s sake,) but Jurd can only answer your questions with:

• Yes
• No
• Yes and No
• Irrelevant
• I don’t know
• Rephrase your question
• Define what you mean by…

Disclaimer: Monday Mysteries are culled from the 1993 Milton Bradley game, Crack the Case – but don’t go peeking.

Skinner Co. makes no claim to the intellectual property presented here, we’re just a number of friends playing a board game in a digital living room.

Note: Last time Colorado Linda chose a medium mystery.

The Case:

Elderly Nigel Harper-Smith is found dead of a heart attack in front of his TV set.

The Mystery:

Who killed Nigel and how?

The Solution:

Thirty-year-old Christina Poore had married the wealthy Nigel, expecting him to drop dead from a bad heart any minute. But the curmudgeonly old man lived on, with the help of his pacemaker, to criticize her every move.

When Nigel’s TV set went on the blink, Christina told him the repair shop had loaned him a small TV so that he could watch his Saturday football game. Then she swung into action. First, she secretly switched his eyeglasses with hers – they had identical frames but opposite prescriptions. Then she switched the TV for a microwave oven, and put his radio next to it. Finally, she tuned in the game on the radio, then placed a frozen turkey into the microwave and set it for three hours.

Unable to see, (but too vain to admit it,) Nigel believed that the microwave was the loaner TV. He immediately fell asleep, and when the microwave signaled “done,” so was Nigel – his pacemaker had become erratic, and his heart had stopped.

Christina switched the microwave and the TV, figuring she had committed the perfect crime. But she was arrested when police discovered that Nigel was wearing her glasses. She just wasn’t farsighted enough to remove them.

Hint #1: Nigel’s own TV was in the repair shop
Hint #2: Nigel and his wife had eyeglasses with identical frames but opposite prescriptions

Note:

You’re free to ask anything, (please keep it to one question a post for simplicity’s sake,) but Jurd can only answer your questions with:

• Yes
• No
• Yes and No
• Irrelevant
• I don’t know
• Rephrase your question
• Define what you mean by…

Disclaimer: Monday Mysteries are culled from the 1993 Milton Bradley game, Crack the Case – but don’t go peeking.

Skinner Co. makes no claim to the intellectual property presented here, we’re just a number of friends playing a board game in a digital living room.

Note: Last time Jonathan Woodard chose an easy mystery.

The Case:

A teenager is taking her regular shortcut to school when she comes upon a gruesome sight in the woods. Lying on the path is the body of her neighbour, Jack Cutnick, with a bloody knife protruding from his chest. The girl runs away in fear, but returns to the site with the police. Jack’s body has disappeared and all that remains are a few drops of his blood.

The police never find the body. A month later, however, they serve a search warrant on Archie Gore, a traveling salesman who lives 50 miles away. Hidden in his garage are Jack’s bloody clothing, his wedding ring, and a photo of Jack with his arms around Archie’s wife. The police arrest Archie, but not for murder.

The Solution:

The police didn’t arrest Archie for murder because Archie and Jack were the same person. Archie was leading a double life, with two wives who completely unaware of each other’s existence. Archie was a traveling salesman, giving the bigamist husband the perfect excuse for periodic absences.

Archie decided to simplify his life and do away with his alter ego. He staged the murder so that “Jack’s” wife could collect on his new insurance policy. Archie knew that his young neighbor was the only one who walked through the woods at that time of day, and correctly assumed that she would run to get help.

When Jack’s photo appeared on the news, a neighbor of Archie’s noticed the resemblance and called the police. They couldn’t arrest Archive for murder, but they DID arrest him for insurance fraud and bigamy.

The Mystery:

What happened to Jack and why did the police arrest Archie?

Hint #1: Archie was trying to simplify his life
Hint #2: 06.05.2020

Note:

You’re free to ask anything, (please keep it to one question a post for simplicity’s sake,) but Jurd can only answer your questions with:

• Yes
• No
• Yes and No
• Irrelevant
• I don’t know
• Rephrase your question
• Define what you mean by…

Disclaimer: Monday Mysteries are culled from the 1993 Milton Bradley game, Crack the Case – but don’t go peeking.

Skinner Co. makes no claim to the intellectual property presented here, we’re just a number of friends playing a board game in a digital living room.

Note: Last time Jay chose a medium mystery.

The Solution:

Each year, George challenged Mike to join him in another brainless, daredevil adventure. Last year it was bullfighting; the year before it was hang gliding. This year, George announced that the two of them would bungee jump off the bridge at the Gruesome Gorge. Fed up with these reckless adventures, Mike said, “No way.”

George replied that if Mike backed out, he’d tell Mike’s wife about Mike’s fling with a chambermaid in Tijuana the year before. The threat sent Mike off the deep end. Desperate and angry, he visited the bridge at Gruesome Gorge. A popular place for bungee jumping, the bridge sported a rectangular metal marker which read “777 FEET ABOVE RIVER.” He then replaced it with a marker that read “888 FEET ABOVE RIVER.”

When the day arrived, Mike dared George to jump first. George obliged, and learned the hard way that his jump was over 100 feet too long. The officer discovered the original metal marker in Mike’s house, and jumped to the right conclusion.

The Case:

The officer serving the search warrant found the metal rectangle he was looking for, and arrested Mark for George’s murder.

The Mystery:

What was the metal rectangle?

(The winning solution MUST contain all of these elements, please don’t assume information from a previous question.)

Hint #1: George “fell” for Mike’s clever switch
Hint #2: Mike was at the end of his rope when he hatched his plot

Note:

You’re free to ask anything, (please keep it to one question a post for simplicity’s sake,) but Jurd can only answer your questions with:

• Yes
• No
• Yes and No
• Irrelevant
• I don’t know
• Rephrase your question
• Define what you mean by…

Disclaimer: Monday Mysteries are culled from the 1993 Milton Bradley game, Crack the Case – but don’t go peeking.

Skinner Co. makes no claim to the intellectual property presented here, we’re just a number of friends playing a board game in a digital living room.