Murder at Château Bellerive

The Situation

Midsummer at Château Bellerive, where thirty of the world's finest gathering designers and community builders have assembled for their annual retreat. At 7:15 PM, on the eve of the closing dinner, Gérard Fontaine (74) — Bellerive's estate manager of forty years — is found dead in the orangerie, a glass of calvados beside him.

The guests are people who have spent their lives reading a room. They have decided to read this one. You lead the investigation.

What is already known

• At 6:15 PM the sommelier poured calvados from a shared carafe on the terrace. Everyone toasted; all who drank from the carafe are fine — so the poison went into Gérard's glass, after the toast.
• Gérard left his glass unattended on the head table in the Grand Salon from 6:15 to 6:30, during the group photograph on the lawn.
• He drank at 6:30 and strolled to the orangerie. Death came around 7:00 PM.
• That morning, Gérard had requested a private meeting with the château's owner about "irregularities in the estate accounts."

Explore the estate in any order, as many times as you like — there is no clock. Some clues give themselves up freely; others are locked away — a sealed drawer, a coded book, a ledger to search, a torn letter to piece back together. Question the suspects, and when you hold the right evidence, return to put it to them. Rule people out in your notebook. When you are certain — lock in the case.

To the Estate Map

Lock in the Case

Set all three tumblers — the who, the how, and the why — then lock it in to make the arrest. No rush; but the château keeps its secrets from the hasty, and the truth only opens for the complete answer.

Who killed Gérard Fontaine? — choose — Margot Delacroix, head gardener Dr. Amara Okafor, facilitator Camille Fontaine, his niece Thierry Brun, caretaker How was it done? — choose — A foxglove infusion, added to his glass of calvados Digoxin pills dissolved in the shared carafe A poisoned slice of tarte tatin Pushed down the cellar stairs Why? — choose — He was about to expose embezzlement from the estate accounts The inheritance An old €20,000 debt The maintenance contract he ended

🔒 Lock it in — make the arrest

Clues gathered: /13 — you may lock in any time, but a fuller case makes for a surer arrest.