Mystery Foundry
The printed Illusion of Christmas case on a table beside a candle and a wooden reindeer, the display window photograph in front

Case file PM-01

The Illusion of Christmas

Christmas Eve, 1996. At eleven o'clock the great Nutcracker of Sterling & Co. comes crashing down, and under it lies no one at all.

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Players
2–6
Time
120–240 minutes
Difficulty
medium
Age
18+

What’s in the file

  • 3 envelopes, opened one at a time
  • 27 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

Inside the envelopes

  1. Envelope OneClosing Time11 papers
    • Briefing letter
    • Crime-scene photograph
    • Police report
    • Evidence photographs
    • Floor plan
    • Security-camera still
    • Tape log
    • Witness statements
    • Receipts and tickets
    • Map
    • Newspaper
  2. Envelope TwoThe Night Crew9 papers
    • Investigator's note
    • Technical drawing
    • Store flyer
    • Typed papers
    • Coded message
    • Witness statements
    • Logbook pages
    • Inventory
    • Timetable
  3. Envelope ThreeChristmas Morning7 papers
    • Investigator's note
    • Medical report
    • Logbook pages
    • Photograph
    • Time card
    • Witness statements
    • Timeline sheet

At eleven o'clock on Christmas Eve 1996, after closing, the great mechanical Nutcracker of Sterling & Co.'s Christmas display came crashing down in the middle of its bow. In the wreck the night crew found Arthur Vance's cashmere coat, his red scarf caught in the gears and a wide pool of red on the snow, but not Arthur Vance. In the basement the box incinerator was roaring. Detective Sergeant Nora Whitlock of the Port Meridian Police has sent you her file as she builds it, envelope by envelope. Work it with her through the night.

Content: Crime and violence, reported without gore; whiskey, gambling debts and a slap

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.

Gift boxes, glass ornaments and a small wooden nutcracker in a department store's Christmas catalogue
A reprinted Port Meridian Herald page about the toymaker who built the store's giant Nutcracker
A district plan of Lake Street and Ash Alley around the Sterling & Co. store
A blueprint of the department store's ground floor and basements

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