Solutions



            Case 1:  Who Attacked Damien?    
      


                 Dining Room                        Reeve                           Amanda                          Hatter
                 Drawing Room                     Carter                           Gideon                            Jonas
                 Parlor Room                         Jill                                 Bryan                              Bennett




                 Each of the three rooms had one guest with blue eyes, one with green eyes, and one with
                 brown eyes.  You realize that the ring in the Parlor Room fell off Jill's finger, leaving the
                 band of pale flesh.  So Jill was in the Parlor Room.  You also deduce that the leaky pen in
                 the Drawing Room was used by Carter, leaving ink on his fingers.  So Carter was in the
                 Drawing Room.  Reeve, the only other blue-eyed guest, was therefore in the Dining Room.
                 (There was only one blue-eyed guest in each room.)

                 Who was the green-eyed guest in the Parlor Room with Jill?  We know that, according to her
                 own testimony, Jill was the shortest person in the room.  Amanda and Gideon, who both have
                 green eyes, are both shorter than Jill, so they were not in the Parlor Room with her.  This
                 leaves only one other green-eyed guest:  Bryan, who was therefore in the Parlor Room with
                 Jill.

                Bryan told us that both of the guests in his room (the Parlor Room) had 20/20 vision.  Jonas
                is wearing eyeglasses, so he was not in the Parlor Room with Bryan and Jill.  So which room
                was he in?  Jonas told us that neither person in his room had ever had their skin cut.  Reeve
                has a long scar on his left arm, indicating that he has been cut (pretty badly, and not surprising,
                given what we know about Reeve from Nine Man's Murder).  So Jonas was not in the Dining
                Room with Reeve.  Therefore Jonas was in the Drawing Room.

                Reeve told us that both guests in his room are deathly allergic to pork.  But we found
                Bennett eating a bacon sandwich, so he is clearly not allergic to pork and therefore not one
                of the guests in the Dining Room with Reeve.  So which room was Bennett in?  Bennett has
                brown eyes, like Jonas; and Jonas was in the Drawing Room.  Since there is only one brown-
                eyed guest in each room, Bennett was not in the Drawing Room.  So he was in the Parlor
                Room.  The third brown-eyed guest, Hatter, was therefore in the Dining Room.

                Gideon told us that neither of the guests in his room smokes, yet we found a cigarette
                lighter in Hatter's pocket, indicating that Hatter is a smoker.  So Gideon was not in the
                Dining Room with Hatter, nor in the Parlor Room (because Bryan is the green-eyed guest in
                the Parlor Room).  So green-eyed Gideon was in the Drawing Room, leaving Amanda as the
                green-eyed guest in the Dining Room

                Therefore Amanda was the one who attacked Damien in the Dining Room.

                Congratulations on solving your first case.

                Detective's Note:
                The characters in this logic puzzle appear in Nine Man's Murder,
                but the story and solution are completely different.



                Case 2:  Who Wrote the Note?


                Billiard Room                         Amanda                             Hatter                               Reeve
                Library                                   Jonas                                 Gideon                              Bennett
                Study                                     Bryan                                 Jill                                     Carter


                Carter wrote the note in the Study.


                Since none of the rooms were occupied by guests who shared traits, including handedness,
                each of the three rooms had one right-handed, one left-handed, and one ambidextrous
                guest.  The blood in the library must have come from Jonas, who has a fresh cut on his finger,
                so Jonas was the right-handed guest in the Library.  The ashes in the Study must have come
                from Bryan, the only guest carrying cigarettes, so Bryan was the right-handed guest in the Study.
                Since no room has more than one right-handed guest, right-handed Amanda can't be in the
                Library or Study, so she was in the Billiard Room.

                Amanda has blonde hair.  So do Gideon and Jill.  Therefore neither of them is the left-handed
                guest in the Billiard Room with Amanda, so Hatter is.  Jonas has a mustache.  So do Reeve and
                Carter.  So they are not the ambidextrous guests in the Library with Jonas.  Thus Bennett is.

                Bennett wears eyeglasses.  So does Jill.  So left-handed Jill is not in the Library with Bennett.
                Nor is she in the Billiard Room, which already has a left-handed guest (Hatter).  So Jill is in
                the Study with Bryan.  Therefore Gideon (the third left-hander) is in the Library, the only room
                without a left-handed guest.  Bryan has a tattoo on his left arm.  So does Reeve.  So ambidextrous
                Reeve is not in the Study with Bryan.  Nor is he in the Library, which already has an ambidextrous
                guest (Bennett).  Therefore Reeve is in the Billiard Room, and Carter, the last-remaining ambi-
                dextrous guest, is in the Study.

                So the ambidextrous guest in the same room with Jill is Carter, who therefore wrote the note in
                the Study.


             Detective's Note:
                The characters in this logic puzzle appear in Nine Man's Murder,
                but the story and solution are completely different.