The Night Register

One night, one hotel, more than 9,000 suspects, and only one of them pushed Vera Hussey down the cellar stair.

The Night Register is a murder mystery puzzle book for adults who have already crossed out names in an elimination book and want the next case. It is also a present for the mystery lover in the family. You get twenty clues and a register of every guest who signed in at the hotel's one open door. Cross out every suspect a clue rules out, page by page, until one name is left. It is worked with a pen on paper, one clue at a time, so it is a paperback only and not for a Kindle.

What's inside:

• Does it really come down to one name? A computer program checked the case: the twenty clues leave exactly one name, every clue is true of the killer, and every clue rules out at least one suspect that no other clue rules out.
• Do I need to think, or just scan letters? Each of the 9,009 suspects has six details beside the name: age, home town, job, arrival time, room and how they arrived. Clues work on all of them, from "The killer arrived before 9:30 PM" to "If the killer came in their own car, the killer works in an office".
• If I go wrong, how do I find where? Three checkpoints, after Clue 6, Clue 12 and Clue 17, print how many suspects are still standing and how many should be left on every page of the register, so a page that does not match shows you where to look again, long before the end.
• Are the clues clear? All twenty are printed twice: a Plain reading that says each rule directly, and a Harder reading that says the same rule in other words and leaves the same suspects standing. The rules of the register list every group a clue names.
• Is there a story? The case opens with the detective, Stella Bernier, at the foot of the stair: a burned lanyard in the cellar stove, a torn bar band, a fund whose figures did not add up, and twenty facts taken only from what the evidence can still show.
• Can I check the answer without spoiling it? There is no answer key. The Verdict holds a sealed confession in cipher, and the name you found is its key.
• Can I read the names near the spine? 231 register pages, 39 lines each, sorted by last name, each headed "Register page N of 231", with a 0.75-inch inside margin.
• Can we solve it together? Split the register pages and add up your totals at each checkpoint. A Case Sheet at the back keeps your counts off the register.

Not a collection of short puzzles, not logic grids, and not a novel: the story sets up the case, and the register is the game. 6 x 9 inches, 252 pages, black ink on white paper.

Sharpen your pencil and turn back the cover.