Sudoku Murder Get the app
Setting

The Vineyard: a murder mystery at harvest time

The grapes come in at dawn, the press runs until dark and everyone at the Vineyard is too tired to notice who is missing from the table. By the end of the harvest supper, one chair is empty and one glass is still full.

The place

The busiest week of the year

The Vineyard is a family business on a hillside. The wine cellar runs under the house, cool and dark. The press house and the barn are loud from morning to night during the harvest, and the tasting room is where buyers are charmed. Meals happen in the kitchen or, when the weather allows, on the terrace above the courtyard, looking down over the orchard.

At harvest everyone has a job and an excuse to be anywhere. The clues cut through the excuses.

How it plays

Outdoor ground is common here. The orchard and the courtyard are open spaces with trees and bushes, and trees block their squares, so a big outdoor room can still have few free cells. The terrace is a place you stand "on", which the clues respect. Inside, barrels and tables fill the cellar and the press house.

Count the free squares in each room before you start. At the Vineyard the room that looks largest is often not the one with the most choices.

The rooms

Where everyone could have been

These are the rooms you will find at the Vineyard. A case uses some of them, cut into a square board by thick walls, and a clue such as "She was in the Wine Cellar" places a person inside one.

Wine Cellar

Tasting Room

Press House

Barn

Terrace

Courtyard

Kitchen

Orchard

The cast

Everyone has a reason. One has an opportunity.

The same regulars travel from case to case, and any of them can be on the guest list here. A few you are likely to meet:

Portrait of Greta

Greta

The gardener who talks to her roses.

Portrait of Karim

Karim

The family lawyer.

Portrait of Oscar

Oscar

The antiques dealer.

Portrait of Sofia

Sofia

The chess prodigy.

Portrait of Yara

Yara

The young pharmacist.

Portrait of Clara

Clara

The young reporter.

Cases set here

Every case at the Vineyard

No archive case has been set here yet. New cases arrive daily at midnight UTC, and the daily case rotates through every setting, so this one gets its turn too. Meanwhile, play today's case or browse the archive.

Today's case

Put it to work on a real case

A new murder at midnight UTC, free in the browser, with one arrangement that fits every clue.

Other settings