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The Perfume Counter
The Perfume Counter

Mrs. Bloom's Shoebox

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Chapter 5 of 10

Mrs. Bloom arrives with a shoebox so orderly it embarrasses the case files. Every Thursday receipt since April, rubber-banded by month, the standing order documented like a treaty: one case, toilet water and soaps, the same printed figure on every slip. She has paid cash, on the nail, thirteen weeks running, and wants it on the record: in forty years she has never been shorted, nor shorted them. Frank lays her receipts beside the ledger and sees the shape of the thing. Her slips agree with each other. The ledger disagrees with all of them, by the same amount, every time. Two columns of honest numbers, marching in parallel, forty-one dollars apart all summer. Somebody told the two columns different stories about the same case of soap, and both believed, because that is all a column can do.

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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 Perfume Counter, 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.

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

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