Tuesday, April 22, 2008

[whodunnit 1] first of a holmes series

This is what I sometimes did with the Year 9s. See how you go:

Sherlock Holmes received an urgent telegram from a client who felt certain that his life was in danger. Holmes and Watson hurried to his lodgings only to find that they were too late. The man had been murdered minutes before they had arrived.

"I found him lying there," said the landlady. "Before he died, he muttered something about belonging to a secret club and quoted the number 92."

"Damned strange thing to say, Holmes," said Watson. Holmes nodded in agreement. "Did he say anything else?" Holmes asked the landlady.

"I asked him who had done this terrible thing to him, but he just repeated the number 92!" she answered.

Holmes thanked her for her help and discharged her. He then proceeded to search the dead man's room, coming across a letter addressed to the man from the other three members of the secret club.

Their names were Wilson, Updike and Brown. In the top left of the letter was the name of the dead man, Smith (Code 69).

From this, Holmes deduced that he had been murdered by another member of the club, and that the number that he had uttered to the landlady was in fact the code number of the murderer.

Holmes then supplied the name of the killer.

What was that name? More importantly, on what basis did you decide on him? The answer is tucked away down below in white. You'll need to highlight.

Wilson - each letter has a number.

7 comments:

Comments need a moniker of your choosing before or after ... no moniker, not posted, sorry.