Mystery Cases word searches
- 15 cases
- Free to play
- Large print
- New every Monday
The Night Operator
1944. An anonymous note accuses the night operator of listening in, and a town wired tight by wartime wants to know what she heard.
Told in 10 chaptersOpen the case
The Cider Press
1931. The orchard's deed goes missing the week the bank comes to talk terms, and suspicion lands on the stranger with the notebook.
Told in 10 chaptersOpen the case
The Perfume Counter
1950. Hartley's perfume counter runs short exactly forty-one dollars every Thursday, and the trap catches nobody at all.
Told in 10 chaptersOpen the case
The Light at Gull Point
The equinox storm, 1929. The keeper of Gull Point light vanishes with the lamp burning and the log open mid-sentence.
Told in 10 chaptersOpen the case
The Second Encore
Reopening night, 1961. The star trumpet's horn is ruined minutes before the second set, and the showpiece carries the wrong name.
Told in 10 chaptersOpen the case
The Overdue Book
1939. The library's rarest book is replaced by a convincing fake overnight, and the head librarian will not call the police.
Told in 10 chaptersOpen the case
The End of the Pier
Closing night, 1957. The pier's owner is found in the water beneath the boarded-off end, and the safety rope was cut clean.
Told in 10 chaptersOpen the case
The Prize Rose
The garden show, 1935. Rose entrants are withdrawing one by one, and each has found the same crooked envelope in their basket.
Told in 10 chaptersOpen the case
The Man off the Bus
1946. A stranger steps off the bus asking for the widow Bly, and the town tries him by rumor inside a week.
Told in 10 chaptersOpen the case
The Marquee Letters
The Bijou turns twenty-five on Saturday. On Thursday, every brass letter of its name is gone from the marquee.
Told in 10 chaptersOpen the case
The Overnight Berth
The overnight express, 1937. The famous novelist is gone from her locked berth, and the train never stopped. Almost.
Told in 10 chaptersOpen the case
Bitter Almonds
Closing weekend, 1953. The Lakeview's owner is poisoned at his desk, and the office was locked from the inside.
Told in 10 chaptersOpen the case
The Last Waltz at the Starlight
New Year's Eve, 1954. The last waltz ends at midnight. The bandleader never sees the new year.
Told in 10 chaptersOpen the case
The Missing Recipe
The morning of the fair's baking judgment, the champion recipe is gone from its tin.
Told in 10 chaptersOpen the case
The Last Page of the Night
Winter, 1948. Twenty minutes before the serial's finale airs, the last page of the script is gone.
Told in 10 chaptersOpen the caseA little background
About Mystery Cases
A Mystery Case is a word search with a story to solve. Each case reads like a short book: every chapter opens on a scene, and the puzzle that follows leaves you holding one clue. Someone in these pages is hiding something. Nine chapters of quiet evidence point at who.
The trick is in the word list. One listed word is never in the grid, and finding the other nine tells you which one it was. That word is your clue, and the case page keeps every clue you earn. The finale turns your clues into its own word list, and when the last one is found, the letters left over spell out who did it, and why. Same calm pages as the rest of the site, and a case keeps your place between evenings.
Common questions
What is a Mystery Case?
A story told in word searches: a case in about ten chapters, each a short scene plus a puzzle that leaves you one clue, building to a finale that needs every clue you have gathered.
Do I have to read the chapters in order?
They are best in order, like any book, and the case page always points at your next chapter. Nothing is locked, though. This is a bookshelf, not a gate.
Do I need to save my progress?
No. Your finished chapters and clues keep themselves, and the case page shows them whenever you come back. One honest caveat: they are kept on this device and browser, so a different device starts fresh. If you want a case that can never be lost, the whole thing prints as one booklet with a clue ledger.
How hard are the puzzles?
The grids are the same large-print 10 by 10 as everywhere on the site, at the classic setting: words hide in every direction, diagonals and backwards included. The real challenge is the case itself, and the rules are printed right above every grid.
Are the stories violent?
They are classic mysteries in the Sunday-evening tradition: real stakes and real feeling, nothing graphic on the page.