The Snowbound Archive

Page 8: A worked example

THE SNOWBOUND ARCHIVE A WORKED EXAMPLE One small packet, fully solved Three volunteers each place one document in one tray. Each volunteer, document and tray is used once. This example is separate from the Frostmere investigation. 1. Nell brings the Map. 2. The Receipt is in the Middle tray. 3. Owen uses the Left tray. 4. Pia does not bring the Key. 5. The Map is in the Right tray. Volunteer Document Tray Nell Map Right Owen Key Left Pia Receipt Middle Nell’s Map fixes the Right tray. Owen already uses Left, leaving Middle for Pia. Middle holds the Receipt, so Pia brings it. The only unassigned document is the Key, which must belong to Owen. Every row follows a stated clue or the each-used-once rule. If you get stuck, reread the boundaries, list what remains possible, then use Hint 1. Hint 2 narrows the deduction. Hint 3 approaches the answer. The solution explains every assignment. 8

Page 9: Frostmere: one missing original

THE SNOWBOUND ARCHIVE FROSTMERE Six people, one missing original Ada reports that the original Winter Atlas was in the archive cabinet at 17:55. Deputy Leda North reports finding a facsimile at 18:12. The packets will test both claims. Its nineteenth-century pages record public footpaths and common land. A public examination is due the next morning. Ada Finch, the curator, asks you to examine the deputy’s evidence packets. The road closed at 18:00. The village’s service passages and footpaths remain separate questions, governed by the records in each packet. Person Role Ada Finch Archive curator and bookshop keeper Ben Moss Village maintenance volunteer Cora Vale Bakery owner and exhibition coordinator Dev Rowan Inn manager and dispatch volunteer Mira Ash Clock workshop and document mount restorer Elsie Reed Community courier at the station Deputy North verifies sources and secures the records. Your task is deduction: establish what happened, who can be linked to it, and where the original went. 9

Page 12: Case 01: Inventory Before the Storm

THE SNOWBOUND ARCHIVE PACKET 01 • EVIDENCE CASE 01 • WARM UP Inventory Before the Storm The replacement lies beneath the cabinet lamp, its pages too clean at the fold. Deputy North has closed the room to visitors. Outside, snow presses against the lower windows. Inside, the more immediate danger is disorder: four records needed to reconstruct the substitution have arrived without their delivery labels. At 19:10, Ada, Ben, Cora and Mira each brought one sealed evidence packet to North’s temporary sorting room. Nobody opened a packet. The deputy recorded where each delivery was placed, but the identifying strips came loose while the table was cleared. Reassemble the delivery record before different sources are accidentally treated as one. Packet rules • Each person delivered exactly one packet and used exactly one surface. Every packet and surface was used once. • The statements below are verified observations of this delivery round. They do not describe access during the theft. Evidence supplied • People: Ada, Ben, Cora, Mira. • Packets: Condition, Door, Closure, Copy. Surfaces: Desk, Tray, Board, Shelf. • Condition contains the signed cabinet inspection; Door contains reader events; Closure contains the road notice; Copy contains the facsimile register. These descriptions do not add placement clues. • The seal numbers remained intact. North checked the packet contents against the intake log after sorting; no source was merged or replaced. SA01: Deputy North's verified evidence packet. 12

Page 13: Case 01: Examine the clues

THE SNOWBOUND ARCHIVE PACKET 01 • WORKSHEET Examine the clues 1. Ada delivered Condition. 2. Ben placed his packet in the Tray. 3. Mira delivered Copy. 4. Ada did not use the Desk. 5. Cora did not deliver Door. 6. Closure was placed on the Board. 7. Copy was placed on the Desk. Match every person to a packet and surface. Which surface holds the signed condition record? Person Packet Surface Ada Ben Cora Mira Your deduction and working Hints 1 / 2 / 3: 101 / 104 / 107 • Solution: page 111 13