HOMICIDE HOTEL
1987 Jim Bentley
It is now 12 noon precisely on the day following the murder of Mr. Andrews (Miss Carmel
Imeldra's husband) at the Hotel Majestic. Now get to work!
NOTES:
There are several persons you have to speak with in order to work out the case; some of them are
wandering through the hotel rooms (mostly around the hotel lobby), so you have to find them when you
want to proceed:
- Mrs. Blake, with her husband owner of the hotel (they live in Room 402)
- Mr. and Mrs. Bennett (live in Room 201)
- Dr. Spencer (occupies Room 301)
- Miss Carmel Imeldra (her room number is 302)
- Gerald Muir (his room number is 401)
persons who don't move around:
- Mr. Blake (he sits behind his desk in the office)
- Lady Mary (occupies Room 102, but she's sitting all the time in the hotel lounge, knitting)
- Miss Ford (she lies on her bed in Room 202 and is reading a book, but she will be the next victim
- when it's
3:0 pm, a shot rings out - sounds like it was on the second or third floor)
- Sergio (restaurant owner on Cleveland Street)
- Inspector Dwyer (at Knightford police station)
Decoding the note you find in the cave is quite simple (though the reference to Nuttall's
Dictionary isn't very helpful); assuming that the letter 'e' is the most commonly
used in the English language you can exchange the 'm' in the note for an 'e',
then you see that 'bmom' must be 'here', so you have the next two letters and so
on:
ix gmzo icpp cimhgoz qbm acopq vzp drpq z qzpqmo qbm omzh qbcjs cp xmq qk ukim erq bmom cp qbm
emscjjcjs
My dear Miss Imeldra the first was just a taster the real thing is yet to come but here is the
beginning
c vzjq acaqx sozjg cj ix okki jriemo qbomm ymok kjm zq icgjcsbq qkjcsbq
I want fifty grand in my room number three zero one at midnight tonight
SOLUTION (because of the movement of the hotel residents, it's not possible to follow a general
step by step progress):
(you start in the lobby of the Hotel Majestic) I (you have a wallet and you are wearing a
wristwatch), N (Mr. Blake's office), EX DESK, OPEN DRAWER (you find a gun - your score is 4%),
GET GUN (you can't), SAY BLAKE "TELL GUN" (it's for emergencies), S, W, N, EX
SHELF, LOOK, GET DICTIONARY (the other books you won't need), N, U, U, S, E (Room 201), EX
WARDROBE, OPEN WARDROBE, EX SUIT (you find a white ticket - score +2%), EX WHITE TICKET (it's
marked 'Newcastle', Inter-City, dated 9/6.), EX GOWN (you find a yellow ticket - score
+2%), EX YELLOW TICKET (it's a train ticket to Manchester, dated 9/6.), W, S, E (Room 202), SAY
FORD "TELL ALIBI", W, N, N, U, S, S, E (Room 302), EX DRESSING, OPEN DRAWER (you see a
black book - score +2%), GET BOOK, EX BLACK BOOK (it's small and black, with 'Miss Carmel
Imeldra' in gold thread on the cover), READ BLACK BOOK (Mr Isiah Bent, theatrical
agent...Islington 243 / Miss Cheryl Devaraux...223455 / Mr Edgar Pilkington...288200 /
Airport...23202 / Lord Chubby Fish...772986), EX DRAWER GENTLY (you find a cheque - score +3%), GET
CHEQUE, EX CHEQUE (it's for £10000, and signed G. Smith), W, N, N, U, S, S, E (Room 402), EX
CABINET, OPEN CABINET, EX DRESS (you discover a receipt - +3%), EX RECEIPT (Royal Casino,
Redborough, In recipience of £800, signed J.Peters, Cashier, 9.6.87), W, N, N, D, D, D, D, E, S, S
(back in the hotel lobby - Mrs. Blake should be there; if not, she's west from here), SAY BLAKE
"TELL ALIBI" ("Well, I went out to the theatre, as my husband had a lot of work to
do, and I didn't want to disturb him."), SAY BLAKE "TELL RECEIPT" (she went to
the casino on the night of the crime, but she doesn't want her husband to know it - score +4%),
SAY BLAKE "TELL HOTEL", N, SAY BLAKE "TELL ALIBI" ("I had a hell of a lot
of work to do, and I did some last night."), S, W, SAY LADY "TELL ALIBI" ("I was
in this room, doing my knitting."), SAY LADY "TELL MR BENNETT", SAY LADY "TELL
ANDREWS", SAY LADY "TELL CARMEL", SAY LADY "TELL MUIR" - now find Gerald
Muir, SAY MUIR "TELL ALIBI" ("Well, Stafford, I haven't any real alibi to speak
of. I was just around the hotel all evening."), SAY MUIR "TELL BENNETT", SAY MUIR
"TELL ANDREWS", SAY MUIR "TELL CARMEL" (he mentions the name Gertie Smith, the
same the cheque is signed with) - then look for Dr. Spencer, SAY DR "TELL ALIBI" ("I
was dining at Sergio's, didn't get back until about half nine, quarter to ten at
least."), SAY DR "TELL MURDER" - next find Mr. Bennett, SAY BENNETT "TELL
ALIBI" ("I was out with my wife, Stafford, we went to the Theatre Royal in
Newcastle.") - you know this is right because you have seen his white ticket, but his wife had
a yellow one, so SAY BENNETT "TELL TICKET" (he admits that he and his wife quarrelled last
night and went to different places - score +3%) - now look for Mrs. Bennett (she's on the
second floor around her room), SAY BENNETT "TELL ALIBI" ("I was out with my husband,
at a play in Newcastle."), SAY BENNETT "TELL TICKET" (she confirms her husband's
evidence), SAY BENNETT "TELL ANDREWS" - lastly, track down Miss Carmel (she can be
anywhere in the hotel, up to the third floor), SAY CARMEL "TELL ALIBI" ("I know I
must be the prime suspect, but it wasn't me. I had gone to see my producer, in Islington. I
caught the 8.57 flight back to Teesside Airport."), SAY CARMEL "TELL ANDREWS", GIVE
CHEQUE TO CARMEL (she looks a little aghast - score +4%), DROP CHEQUE, now return to the hotel
lobby, DIAL 243 ("Hello ? Isiah Bent here."), TELL CARMEL ("Yeah, Miss Imeldra was
here." - score +3%), DIAL AIRPORT ("Hello, Teesside Airport"), TELL FLIGHT ("The
8:57 flight ? There was Mr and Mrs Johnstone, a Miss Imeldra, ..." - so you see that she has
told the truth - score +3%), DROP BOOK, E, S, E (Sergio's Ristorante), SAY SERGIO "TELL
DR" (he says that Dr. Spencer was here and left about half past eight - you find that
there's a time difference between his evidence and Spencer's; this is the last hint you
can get from the persons concerned - score +4%), W, S, E, E (the household goods area of the
supermarket), GET BAG, EX BAG (fairly capacious), LOOK IN BAG (you see a bottle of 'Vim'
and some throat lozenges), PUT WALLET IN BAG, PUT DICTIONARY IN BAG, GET ALL (nails, spade and
bowl), PUT ALL IN BAG, W, W, S, W (in the weapons shop), GET HACKSAW, PUT HACKSAW IN BAG, GET
HAMMER, PUT HAMMER IN BAG, E, DROP BAG, W, GET SLEDGEHAMMER, E, S, S, S, DROP SLEDGEHAMMER, N, N, E,
S, GET PLANKS, N, W, N, GET NAILS FROM BAG, GET HAMMER FROM BAG, GET HACKSAW FROM BAG, S, S, S, MAKE
BOAT (score +8%), DROP HAMMER, DROP HACKSAW, N, N, N, GET BAG, S, S, S, GET BOWL FROM BAG, GET SPADE
FROM BAG, DIG SAND (several times until you discover a pair of oars - score +5%), DROP SPADE, DROP
BAG, GET BOAT, GET OARS, GET SLEDGEHAMMER, S, BAIL WATER (score +4%), S, BAIL WATER, S, DROP BOAT,
DROP OARS, W, S, HIT OUTCROP (your hammering has no effect), HIT OUTCROP FORCEFULLY (a small room is
revealed - score +6%), DROP SLEDGEHAMMER, S, EX DESK, OPEN DRAWER (in the drawer is a note - score
+5%), GET NOTE (it's coded), EX WALL, EX CAVITY (you find a photo), GET PHOTO, EX PHOTO (it is
of Miss Imeldra, standing over her husband's dead body, with a syringe in her hand), N, N, E,
DROP PHOTO, GET BOAT, GET OARS, N, BAIL WATER, N, BAIL WATER, N, DROP NOTE, S, BAIL WATER, S, BAIL
WATER, S, GET PHOTO, N, BAIL WATER, N, BAIL WATER, N, PUT PHOTO IN BAG, DROP ALL, GET NOTE, EX NOTE,
GET DICTIONARY FROM BAG, READ DICTIONARY (it should give you a hint to decode the note; in the
decoded note you see it's a message from Dr. Spencer [the room number belongs to him] to Miss
Carmel Imeldra), DROP DICTIONARY, GET BAG, N, W, ASK FOR INSPECTOR (The Inspector comes from in his
backroom. "Hello, Stafford, think you've solved the case, then?"), SAY INSPECTOR
"SPENCER GUILT" (He says "Oh-what's your evidence?"), GIVE NOTE ("How
does it work? What does 'A' in our alphabet equal?"), SAY INSPECTOR "A EQUAL
Z", SAY INSPECTOR "H EQUAL B", SAY INSPECTOR "O EQUAL K", SAY INSPECTOR
"Y EQUAL X", GET PHOTO FROM BAG, GIVE PHOTO TO INSPECTOR (he says "Why was Andrews
killed?"), SAY DWYER "SPENCER CARMEL" ("Why Miss Ford?" he asks), SAY DWYER
"FORD SAW SPENCER" ("You must be right, Stafford - all this evidence points to Dr
Spencer." Back in the hotel, the inspector arrests Dr. Spencer - your score increases by 30%
and you have a total of 95%)
Solution by boldir, April 2021