Mystery Foundry
The Last Vanishing case file on a theatre dressing table under bulb lights, the first envelope among a newspaper, a map, a blueprint and flash photographs

Case file SP-01

The Last Vanishing

New Year's Eve, 1926. At the end of the pier, as the clock strikes twelve, the Marvellous Merrow steps into his cabinet and vanishes. He was meant to reappear a minute later. He never did.

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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
  • 25 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 OneThe Midnight Turn9 papers
    • Briefing letter
    • Playbill
    • Crime-scene photograph
    • Police report
    • Floor plan
    • Flash photographs
    • Witness statements
    • Newspaper
    • Letters
  2. Envelope TwoThe Interval7 papers
    • Medical report
    • Prompt script
    • Logbook pages
    • Witness statements
    • Technical drawing
    • Coded message
    • Map
  3. Envelope ThreeOld Acquaintance9 papers
    • Police report
    • Record sleeve
    • Newspaper
    • Logbook pages
    • Witness statements
    • Evidence photographs
    • Cut-out grille × 2
    • Timeline sheet

At midnight on New Year's Eve 1926 the Marvellous Merrow vanished from his cabinet on the stage of the Pavilion Theatre, Brightholme Pier, and minutes later was found dead beneath the stage. Scotland Yard has been called in, and you are the Yard's inspector, reading the borough police file on the train down. Find out who must answer for it.

Content: One death off the page by poison, no gore; period drinking and smoking

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.

A red and black linocut of a magician's vanishing cabinet on a stage between curtains
The Pavilion Theatre's playbill for its New Year's Eve gala, 1926
The Brightholme Gazette's Christmas number, on the girl who vanishes at every show
A blueprint of the Pavilion Theatre's stage and the rooms beneath it

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