
     NINE GREEN MURDERS: MURDERS. COPYRIGHT (C) 1988 LEVEL 9
     -------------------------------------------------------

The game includes nine murders for the player to pick from. They 
will be graded in difficulty order and - while the final order can 
only be assessed with hindsight - an initial order is as follows..  

1: Vera stabs Sue to "protect" Sir Robert; 
2: Sir Robert fights Clifford who falls from window; 
3: Fiona bashes Bill and frames Kathy, to climb inher'ce queue; 
4: Sue apparantly uses an egg to poison Fiona, after her insults; 
5: Kathy commits suicide with a gun, in a highly intelligent way; 
6: Clifford uses Sir Robert's heart attack to frame Bill; 
7: Jarvis drowns Vera because they hate each other; 
8: Bill frames Anthony and escapes to a new life; 
9: Anthony strangles and frames Jarvis who has been sneering at him. 

The murders will be given jokey titles and can either be selected 
specifically, or solved in order (for a maximum score), or a random 
murder can be requested. 


EVIDENCE 

Some details are only obvious by examining evidence closely. As we 
also need a straightforward "examine", I propose that this be 
followed by "do you take a closer look?". Agreeing would reveal 
any additional information, but would take quite a bit of time 
(and people might object to themselves or their possessions being 
stared at in this way). 

When people are asked about other people, everyone but the murderer 
is truthful who will lie to protect themselves - and it may well be 
the case that something that people tell you about others is how 
they were liked by the rest of the family. Thus eg in murder 1, it 
will be evidence that the murderer, Vera, says she liked the victim, 
Sue, though some other people may say about Vera that she hated Sue. 

It is important for the program to note where people are at the 
(apparant) time of the murder, so that they can tell the hero that.  

Obviously, the more evidence the better, so the programmer is very 
welcome to add more. 


1: Vera stabs Sue to "protect" Sir Robert 

Vera Armstrong had been brooding over Sue Lombard's increasing 
influence in the household. She basically ran the place, and looked 
forward to a generous inheritance when Sir Robert. But now she 
feared the way in which Sue was "weasling" her way into the master's 
confidence, and was furious about what she saw as gold-digging. 

Temporarily unhinged by cooking sherry, Vera made her way to Sue's 
room (next to Sir Robert's) and stabbed her with a breadknife. 


EVENTS 

Sue was last down for dinner. When all the others were assembled, 
apart from Anthony who was dressing and Clifford and Fiona who were 
arguing in the Hall, Vera made her way through Kitchen/Scullery/ 
Back Stairs/Master Bedroom and Sue's room where she stabbed Sue. 
Anthony heard the sound and called down to the two below; they 
forced open Sue's door and found her dead. Meanwhile, Vera retraced 
her steps to the Kitchen. 


EVIDENCE 

Vera claimed to have been in the kitchen the whole time, but Jarvis 
said she had been away for several minutes. 

She had been wearing a pinnafore, but denied this. 

The pinnafore was hidden in the dustbin outside the back door. 

After arresting Vera, searching her revealed the breadknife. 




2: Sir Robert fights Clifford, who falls from window 

Sir Robert felt an instinctive hatred for Clifford, who he correctly 
assumed was looking to take over his business with Fiona's unwitting 
help. 

When Clifford visited his office to try to win the older man over, 
they argued and fought. Clifford fell from the window to his death, 
and Sir Robert dragged his body to the potting shed. 

EVENTS 

Clifford and Fiona visited Sir Robert, who asked Fiona to wait in 
the Study while the men had a private chat. The fight occurred and 
Clifford's body fell and was hidden by bushes. Robert dashed down 
the back stairs and dragged the body to the potting shed, then 
returned and pretended to be arguing with Clifford. Fiona returned 
and listened at the door, heard the quarrel and went back to the 
study. When she returned later, Robert told her that Clifford had 
been told to leave the house. She ran out to try and catch him, 
but didn't for obvious reasons. Finally, Jarvis went out to check 
on the garden and found the body; suspecting the identity of the 
killer, he blamed gypsies for the crime. 


EVIDENCE 

Someone would have heard the fall and looked out, but seen nothing. 

In the bushes below Robert's window were marks of a fall, and 
Clifford's wallet. 

A scrap of cloth from Sir Robert's suit (new that day) was snagged 
on a nail in the shed; 

A gash on the body's face matched with traces of blood on Sir 
Robert's ring (this was visible and so could be examined without 
needing a search). 



3: Fiona bashes Bill and frames Kathy, to climb inher'ce queue 

Fiona Farleigh viewed herself much as the non-prodigal daughter; 
she did all the work but it looked as if Bill Farleigh (a "complete 
waste of space", a "vacuum in human form") would inherit. 

She had previously borrowed the head a cherub from the statue in the 
statue beside the main drive, for a cruel joke on Jarvis, who cared 
greatly about first impressions and was now looking for it whenever 
duties permitted. (Jarvis would not admit this was what he was doing, 
though, so as not to draw attention to the imperfection). 

Then she heard Kathy Farleigh anguing loudly with her husband, waited 
untilis fortune onto William when he dies. 

William is suspicious of his wife Kathy who is surprisingly sexy (a 
triumph of mind over matter) and a flirt. 


* Kathy Farleigh (nee Pym): wife (31). Mousy hair. Short, fat, glasses 

Kathy is not pretty, but she acts pretty and knows how to attract men 
with wit and subtle flattery. She thinks herself a very intelligent 
woman who has married a very stupid man. She is bored stiff with the 
Country and is much attracted by Anthony Farleigh's cultivated m
EVENTS 

Fiona and Clifford had already arrived and the Stone Head was in 
their room. Jarvis wandered around the garden, but would not tell 
anyone what he was looking for, though another cast member heard 
him murmur incriminatingly, "broken her head". The events of the 
murder are as above, and happened while Clifford was alone talking 
to Sir Robert (though he first claimed never to have left Fiona). 


EVIDENCE 

Cherub's Head  - minute traces of blood. 

Perfume Bottle - apparant murder weapon. Kathy's fingerprints.  

Tongs - Fiona and Vera's fingerprints (Inspector Gormley can be 
        asked to inspect anything for prints, but it takes a while). 

Sound of Kathy\Bill quarrel heard by all in the house. 

Examining Fiona revealed a damp smudge of soot on her sleeve. 



4: Sue apparantly uses an egg to poison Fiona, after her insults 

Fiona repeatedly insults Sue, to the point where she walks from the 
room with murder on her mind. 

Knowing of Fiona's preference for brown eggs, Sue visits the kitchen 
and secretly makes a tiny pin-prick in the shell of each of these. 
(Her idea is a piece of subtle misdirection). 

Sue arrives first for breakfast, conceals a pin in the back of 
Sue's chair and waits. When the next family member arrives, she 
takes her leave - complaining of a headache and a feeling that 
something awful will happen. 

Sue leaves, everyone arrives and they have breakfast, Fiona being 
the only one to have a brown egg (the others are happy with white). 
At the end, Fiona leans back and stretches, then dies. 

Sue returns a few minutes later, claiming that she has just realised 
what her premonition means, only to find Fiona dead. Crying, she 
goes over to examine the body and secretly removed the pin. 


EVENTS 

This game starts on the morning following the Dinner. Nobody is 
seen making holes in the eggs. Sue waits until just before 
breakfast, then goes down to the Dining Room, stands behind 
Fiona's chair to hide a pin in the back, and makes a fuss about 
the future. After she leaves, Jarvis and Vera set breakfast, the 
others enter and events go as above. 


EVIDENCE 

Several people report Fiona's insults to Sue when asked about her. 

Examining Fiona reveals that she has been poisoned. 

Fiona's Eggshell has a pinprick in the shell, to give the idea that 
this is the source of the poison. As she's eaten all the egg, there 
is no quick way of disproving this. 

Eggs - all the brown ones have pin-pricks.  

Fion But now she 
feared the way in which Sue was "weasling" her way into the master's 
confidence, and was furious about what she saw as gold-digging. 

Temporarily unhinged by cooking sherry, Vera made her way to Sue's 
room (next to Sir Robert's) and stabbed her with a breadknife. 


EVENTS 

Sue was last down for dinner. When all the others were assembled, 
apart from Anthony who was dressing and Clifford and Fiona who were 
arguing in the Hall, Vera made her way through Kitchen/Scullery/ 
Back rooms to change. Kathy pleads illness and asks 
him to bring up a tray, and this he does. 

Shortly afterwards, a bang is heard from Kathy's room. She's sitting 
facing the door and has been shot in the forehead, and it's not a 
pretty sight. She was apparantly drinking coffee (the cup has fallen 
to the floor), and coffee and blood are spattered around - but 
there's no gun. 

The door is locked on the inside; the window is open and the sill 
newly chipped; there's a secret panel to the locked and empty room 
next door; there's a sturdy locked wardrobe which needs tools to 
open; a disused speaking tube descends to the kitchen and the soot 
in the large fireplace is disturbed. 

However the gun and/or criminal were not hidden by means of any of 
these - it actually fell into the coffee pot. (You can't see it 
by examination and would need to take it to the kitchen or bathroom 
to empty it). 


EVIDENCE 

Find and examine all possible escape routes to prove that nobody 
could have escaped each way. 

Take the Coffee Pot to a sink and empty it to find the Gun. 

Examine the Gun to find Kathy's are the only fingerprints. 



6: Clifford uses Sir Robert's heart attack to frame Bill 

Sir Robert feel unwell and asks Doctor Bill for an opinion. 
Bill advises him to rest and tells everyone else to leave him 
alone for a while. 

Robert has a drink of whisky and coincidentally dies. Clifford 
arrives late, not having heard the doctor's advice, visits Sir 
Robert and finds him dead. This means Bill will inherit almost 
everything, but Clifford realises if he acts quickly he can dispose 
of this rival. 

He conceals a glass and visits Bill, complaining of a headache, 
waits until he's unlocked his bag and then distracts the doctor 
with a claim of hearing him called from outside. Bill leaves for 
long enough to let Clifford steal Kathy's whisky bottle and take
some arsenic in the glass. 

Clifford returns to the body, poisons Robert's whisky in the bottle 
and drips some poisoned whisky into the dead man's mouth and into a 
pair of glasses. Then he pours all the poisoned whisky out of the 
window and refills Robert's malt whisky bottle with the grain spirit 
stolen from Kathy. Finally, he wipes the glasses with a handkerchief 
taken earlier from Bill's drawer and replaces them on the shelf, 
wipes Kathy's bottle and pockets the handkerchief, rinsing it in his 
bedroom when he gets the chance. On the way past, he opens the door 
of Bill's room a crack and pushes the empty bottle inside. 

The idea is that everything should look as though Bill poisoned 
his father and then tried to hide the evidence. 


EVIDENCE 

There is enough evidence to convict either Bill (falsely) or 
Clifford. The two groups are: 

Glasses - two of them smell slightly of bitter almonds. 
Kathy's Bottle - empty and smells slightly of bitter almonds.
Robert's Bottle - contains wrong type of whisky. 
Whisky below window 

Clifford's fingerprint on something else in doctor's bag. 
Clifford absent mindedly brings out damp handkerchief marked "W". 
Clifford knows Sir Robert was poisoned when asked about him. 

To clarify matters, Clifford will confess if you have enough 
evidence when you accuse him. 



7: Jarvis drowns Vera because they hate each other 

Jarvis and Vera have been married for many years and grown to hate 
each other immensely. So, when Jarvis accidentally disturbs Vera 
taking a bath in their cottage, and she speaks to him for the first 
time in five years to say how much he disgusts her, he drowns her. 

Jarvis needs an alibi, so he puts a blown 5amp fuse in the plug of 
their electric fire, plugs it in and places it the fire in the bath. 
Then he takes a metal fork and bends all but the outer prongs aside, 
joins a group of people and secretly pushes it into an electric 
socket. 

All the lights go out and Jarvis falls to the ground (apparantly in 
surprise but actually as a result of the shock). When Vera's body is 
subsequently found, people will assume that it was the fire that 
blew all the fuses - so giving Jarvis an alibi and throwing 
suspicion on those by themselves at the time. 

The fork has a slight tarnish from the spark, and Jarvis subsequently 
straightens its prongs (but not perfectly) and places it on the table 
with some others. Close examination of the body suggests she drowned. 

I would like some of the other people to be away, doing things that 
they later refuse to describe. Eg having clandestine meetings for 
love or business reasons. This will help confuse the picture. 


EVIDENCE 

Jarvis' cuff is slightly wet. 
Fork is surplus and is bent and tarnished. 
Body is drowned, not electrocuted. 
"Jarvis thrown to ground". 
5 amp fuse is too small for electric fire. 



8: Bill frames Anthony and escapes to a new life 

Bill is fed up with life and thinks that Anthony is having an 
affair with his wife. He decides to frame his rival and vanish to 
a new life abroad. 

Bill explains that he cut himself badly on a cold chisel, when he 
arrives wearing an impressive bandage on his left hand. There are a 
few jokes about fighting off murder by his wife. This allows him to 
uncover the wound at will. 

He borrows Anthony's penknife to uncork a bottle and (unseen) smears 
a drop of blood on the hinge before returning it. 

Later, he passes on a false message to Anthony (unseen), telling him 
of an urgent message. They are seen going together to Bill's room, 
where he claims to have made a note of the message - but needless to 
say it's not there. Bill says all he knows it was from someone who 
will soon be arriving, so Anthony walks angrily to his car and leaves. 

Bill is not seen again. He splashes some blood around his room, 
climbs from the window and flattens the bushes as if he fell. 
Wearing a coat like Anthony's, he drags a coat to his car, puts the 
dragged coat in the back and drives off. (Someone will see this and 
think subsequently that it was Anthony dragging Bill). 

He drives to the local pig farm, wraps the coat around a previously- 
bought joing of meat and throws it to the pigs; making sure to splash 
some of his own blood around. By the time the farmer returns, the 
pigs will have eaten just about everything. 

Bill now walks away, and will not be seen again unless you accuse 
him successfully, when he's caught using a false passport to flee the 
country to a new life. 

Meanwhile, Anthony returns and is accused of murder. 

I would like some of the other people to be away, doing things that 
they later refuse to describe. Eg having clandestine meetings for 
love or business reasons. This will help confuse the picture. 


EVIDENCE 

There is enough evidence to convict either Anthony (falsely) or 
Bill. The two groups are: 

Bloody penknife. 
coat fragments. 
"Sight of Anthony dragging body to car". 

Asking Kathy about the clothes in their wardrobe reveals that two 
of Bill's coats are missing. 
The Footprints below the window are large; Anthony is a small man. 
The window is pushed closed and has a peculiar muddy patch on the 
outside of the glass. 
Examining the clothes-line prop reveals a matching damp patch on 
one end, and Bill's fingerprints. 



9: Anthony strangles and frames Jarvis who has been sneering at him 

Jarvis thinks Anthony a wastrel who has made nothing of his life 
(unlike the other Farleighs) and treats him with a studied lack of 
respect - much to the amusement of Bill and Fiona. 

Anthony waits until Jarvis is alone downstairs in his cottage, enters 
and strangles him and hangs him by a noose from the light fitting. 
Then he borrows Jarvis' rabbitting shotgun and coat (holding the gun 
unnaturally by a cloth, and triggering it by string, so as not to 
disturb Jarvis fingerprints) and walks through the garden and fires 
at Sir Robert through the window. 

He drops the gun, runs back to Jarvis, locks the door, puts the coat 
on the body, locks the door and climbs out of the window. He then 
lurks in the bushes and joins the family when they arrive cautiously 
to bang on the door and eventually burst in. He then goes to the 
window and opens it saying, "Just checking this was closed and nobody 
could have escaped this way. He must have killed himself when he came 
to his senses". 

I would like some of the other people to be away, doing things that 
they later refuse to describe. Eg having clandestine meetings for 
love or business reasons. This will help confuse the picture. 


EVIDENCE 

