Case file SR-01

The Christmas Star

Christmas Eve, 1934. A Swiss chocolate king hires a whole luxury train to carry his family up into the snow, and at midnight he will name his heir. When the train comes out of the Silberhorn tunnel at 23.47, he is dead in his private car.

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Players

2–6

Time

120–180 minutes

Difficulty

hard

Age

18+

What’s in the file

• 3 envelopes, opened one at a time
• 29 papers: reports, letters, statements and photographs
• About 35 pages to print at home, on A4 or US Letter
• Hints and the full solution, read on screen

On Christmas Eve 1934 Konrad Hartmann, founder of the Basel chocolate house Hartmann & Sohn, hired a whole luxury train to carry his family up to his hotel in the snow. At midnight he meant to name his heir: the grandson who had come back from America after twenty-two years. When the train came out of the Silberhorn tunnel at 23.47 he was dead in his private salon car. His executor has gathered the papers of that night and asks you two things before he reads the will on New Year's Eve: who killed him, and whether the young man is his grandson.

Content: One death, told in the reports; signs of a struggle in the scene photograph, never a body or blood; wine, kirsch and cigars

From the file

Hold the lens over a page to read it; pull a picture and it swings on its thread.Tap a page to put the lens on it, and drag the lens to read.

Written and illustrated with the help of AI tools, from our own story, prompts and edits, and checked by us.