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The Marquee Letters
The Marquee Letters

The Empty Rails

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Chapter 1 of 10

Opal Grimes opens the box office at nine and does not need her first customer to tell her; the shadow of the marquee falls wrong across Main Street, and when she steps out and looks up, the Bijou has no name. The mounting rails run bare across the front like an empty music staff. No broken glass on the sidewalk, no bent brackets, not one dropped screw in the gutter, and the letters, each one brass and heavy as a fire iron, are simply elsewhere. Faye Bishop stands on the curb with her coffee going cold, doing the arithmetic she always does. Saturday is the gala. The owners count the gala. She looks at the clean, patient emptiness where BIJOU used to burn and says, mostly to herself: whoever did this loved the work. That is what frightens me.

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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 Marquee Letters, a mystery told in word searches. Each chapter leaves you one clue; the finale needs them all.

How a mystery chapter works

  1. 1
    Read the scene first.Every chapter opens with a scene from the case. The word list is drawn from it, and so is the clue.
  2. 2
    Find the words.Tap a word's first letter, then tap along to its last, or press and drag. Found words colour themselves in and cross off the list.
  3. 3
    One 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.
  4. 4
    The 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.

Prefer pen and paper?

Print The Marquee Letters as one large-print booklet: every chapter and its puzzle, a clue ledger, and the ending sealed on the last page.

All chapters of The Marquee Letters

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