Case One
All Hands
Lake Huron, 1913
The worst storm in Great Lakes history takes a freighter with every man aboard. Twenty-six went out. Only twenty-five were ever named.
OUT NOW
A series of interactive mystery novels
Every paper crosses someone out. The last name standing is the answer.
Real history, invented paperwork, one provable answer. You're the investigator, the evidence is the paperwork, and the answer is a person the record erased.
Case One, ALL HANDS (Lake Huron, 1913), is out now in paperback.
PRACTICE SHEET
not from any book
Six men were on the books at the freight depot on the night of 14 March 1911. One of them signed for a telegram at 2:10 a.m. Strike every man the papers prove it wasn't. Tap a line to strike it, or let a paper show you.
| LINE | NAME | JOB | SHIFT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A. Brenner | Porter | Night |
| 2 | C. Dwyer | Clerk | Day |
| 3 | E. Fisk | Clerk | Night |
| 4 | H. Moll | Watchman | Night |
| 5 | J. Ostrow | Clerk | Night |
| 6 | L. Pruitt | Porter | Night |
Still standing: 6
Lines add up to: 21
POSTED RULE
Day men off at 6 p.m. No day man on the floor after 7.
SICK BOOK · 14 MAR
E. Fisk: home, fever. No cover sent.
TELEGRAM, 2:10 A.M.
Received and signed for by the clerk on duty.
In the books, you and the narrator keep separate counts and line-number sums. If they don't match, one of you has gone wrong.
How a case works
A story and a case file, bound into one book
Take the job
Someone who has run out of time sends for you. The opening letter says who's paying, and why it has to be an outsider.
Read the paper
Every chapter hands you a document that looks like the real thing: a payroll, a telegram, a pressing-plant manifest, a union contract.
Strike the names
Each paper proves some people on the master sheet can't be the one. Strike them in pencil, with a ruler.
Check your count
Compare your count and your line-number sum with the narrator's. When one line is left, you've reached the only conclusion.
The cases
You are the investigator. Your reputation travels.
You never get a name in the books. You write your own on the hiring slip. Every case stands on its own, and each client passes you on to the next.
Case Two
The Music Vault
Muscle Shoals, 1969
The best track in the vault has no name on it. Somebody played the bass line of his life. Nobody wrote down his name.
COMING SOON
THE SUGAR CAMP
Dayton, Ohio · 1943
Lindqvist Tool & Wire Co.
IN PREPARATION
Dayton, Ohio · 1943
Lindqvist Tool & Wire Co.
Case Three
The Sugar Camp
Dayton, 1943
A small Dayton tool shop did one job for the Navy in 1943 and wrote it up under a cover name. The shop is closing, and the Navy wants the names.
IN PREPARATION
The house rules
What every case promises
Each book is set in a real moment of history, told through paperwork built to look and read like the real thing. The rules don't change from book to book.
- No murderEvery case is about a person the record erased. Nobody is killed for a plot twist.
- One provable answerNo guessing, no trick ending. Everything you need is on the page, and every step can be checked.
- Real historyA real storm, a real music town, a real wartime secret. The people and papers are invented. The history isn't.
- Hints in three tiersA nudge, then the rule, then a shove. They're numbered out of order, so you can't read ahead by accident.
- The proof, sealedThe complete solution waits at the back behind a sealed page, for when you've signed your last count.
- A bonus caseEvery book ends with Case Zero, a short case that opens the next story.
Case Zero
Solved the short case? Check it here.
Every book ends with Case Zero: one ledger, a handful of papers, about fifteen minutes. When you have one line left, bring it here. You'll get the full walkthrough, and a letter from the case with your name on it.
PRINTED AT THE BACK OF ALL HANDS
The Varnell Vault, 1969
Your reward: the letter of reference the Cleveland clerk wrote for you. It's how the next client finds you.
theonlyconclusion.com/musicvault-casezero PRINTED AT THE BACK OF THE MUSIC VAULT The Sugar Camp, 1975Your reward: Carl Lindqvist's reply, written the week the Navy came to collect.
theonlyconclusion.com/sugarcamp-casezeroFree, no email
Need a fresh master sheet?
Every book has a master sheet and a spare. If you've used both, or you're solving with a friend, print another. Letter size, black and white.
ALL HANDS: the master sheet
64 lines · PDF · letter size
Download
64 lines · PDF · letter size
THE MUSIC VAULT's sheet goes up here when the book opens.
Questions
Before you sit down at the desk
Do I need to be good at puzzles or history?
No. The first stage of every book shows you exactly how to strike, line by line. After that, each chapter asks what the paper proves, and the hints at the back catch you if you stall.
What do I need?
A pencil, not a pen, and something with a straight edge. Everything else is in the book.
Is it a novel or a puzzle book?
Both. It reads like a short novel told in the second person, and every chapter hands you evidence to work. The story moves when you do.
Do I have to read them in order?
No. Each case stands on its own. Reading in order gives you a small bonus: the people you help in one book send for you in the next.
Can two people solve it together?
That's how it's built. Every stage is checked by two counts and two sums. One of you reads, one of you strikes, then you compare. It makes a good gift for a couple or a parent and grown child.
Is there violence?
No murder, ever. ALL HANDS is set around a real shipwreck, and it treats the men who were lost with care.
I'm stuck. What now?
Turn to STUCK? at the back. Each stage has three hints: a nudge, the rule, and a shove. If you're still stuck, the full proof is sealed behind the last pages.
The mailing list
One letter when the next case opens
THE MUSIC VAULT is next. Leave your address and we'll write once when it's ready. Nothing else, and we never share your address.