Chapter 1 of 10
The tin box lives under the stairs, its contents unchanged in Ray's lifetime: birth certificates, the war medal in its cotton, his grandfather's stopped watch, the deed. Monday evening, the bank's letter face-down on the table, he brings the box out for the deed, and the deed is not there. Certificates, medal, watch: everything else in usual order, undisturbed, wrong. He empties the box three times. Ivy checks the stairs cupboard, the desk, the Bible shelf. Nothing forced, nothing scattered: the box was opened by hands that knew it, which should comfort and is instead the week's most frightening fact. The house holds four such pairs of hands and trusts them all. Ray puts the medal back in its cotton with too much care, buying time before the sentence: the paper that answers the bank on Friday is gone.
Use the arrow keys to move between letters. Press Enter or Space on the first letter of a word, then again on the last letter. Press Escape to cancel.
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About this case
A chapter of The Cider Press, a mystery told in word searches. Each chapter leaves you one clue; the finale needs them all.
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Print The Cider Press as one large-print booklet: every chapter and its puzzle, a clue ledger, and the ending sealed on the last page.
How a mystery chapter works
- 1Read the scene first.Every chapter opens with a scene from the case. The word list is drawn from it, and so is the clue.
- 2Find the words.Tap a word's first letter, then tap along to its last, or press and drag. Found words color themselves in and cross off the list.
- 3One listed word is not in the grid.Find the other nine and the word left over is the chapter's clue. Note it down, or let the case page keep it for you.
- 4The finale needs every clue.The last puzzle's word list is the clues you collected, and once you find them all, the leftover letters spell out who did it, and why.