Mystery Foundry
The Lot 41 case file on a walnut desk under a green banker's lamp, the first envelope among the sale catalogue, its plates, the provenance labels and the police photograph

Case file GV-01

Lot 41: The Cataloguer's Confession

Geneva, 1968. An hour before a great estate sale, the auction house's star appraiser is found dead among her perfumes, a lot ticket beside her. By morning the quiet secretary has typed six pages confessing everything. You are the authenticators: tell the real thing from the fake.

Buy on Etsy
Players
2–6
Time
105–135 minutes
Difficulty
medium
Age
18+

What’s in the file

  • 3 envelopes, opened one at a time
  • 23 papers: reports, letters, statements and photographs
  • About 40 pages to print at home, on A4 or US Letter
  • Hints and the full solution, read on screen

Inside the envelopes

  1. Envelope OneThe Confession7 papers
    • Briefing letter
    • Crime-scene photograph
    • Typed papers
    • Auction catalogue
    • Provenance slips
    • Cut-out overlay
    • Witness statements
  2. Envelope TwoTwo Deaths, One Sale9 papers
    • Police report
    • Floor plan
    • Torn paper to fit together
    • Auction catalogue
    • Receipts and tickets × 2
    • Letters
    • Handwriting samples
    • Map
  3. Envelope ThreeWithdrawn from Sale7 papers
    • Recorder chart
    • Police report
    • Logbook pages × 2
    • Letters
    • Receipts and tickets
    • Timeline sheet

On Saturday 12 October 1968, an hour before a great estate sale, Hortense Verre, the star appraiser of Galerie Vernaz, was found dead in her scent library with a lot ticket beside her. The next morning the gallery's secretary, Julian Pell, gave the police six typed pages confessing to her murder and to another. The gallery's president does not believe him. He has hired you, as authenticators, to examine the confession as you would examine a painting, line by line, before the sale reopens.

Content: Two deaths off the page, no gore; an old fraud, a ruined refugee family, cigarettes and wine

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.

The Galerie Vernaz sale catalogue, Geneva, 12 October 1968
The president's cards on the people in the house and around the sale

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