From the world of Case 001

Try the sample.

Read the documents, name who is not telling the truth, and point to the one that proves it. Then see the breakdown. It doesn’t give away the case.

A taste of how a Dear Motive case works. Its own small mystery, not from the real case.

On Saturday morning, the honesty box went missing from the egg stall in Market Elsby's market hall. Three shoppers told the hall manager their versions of events. Read the pieces of evidence, then work out whose account cannot be true.

Note taped to the egg stall

TO WHOEVER TOOK MY HONESTY BOX. It was on this table, with £11 in it, when the cheese counter called 47. When they called 49, it was gone. I heard both numbers called while I was round the back fetching more trays. Bring it back to the stall and that is the end of it. Bryony Hale, Hale Farm Eggs

Hall manager's notebook

Egg stall box. Asked the three nearest. Owen Pryce: didn't come in till after it went. Says everyone was already talking about it when he took his ticket. Freya Lund: waiting at the cheese counter when it went, eyes on the number board, saw nothing. Sam Okafor: bought a dozen eggs, paid into the box, then joined the cheese queue. I. Tull

Cheese counter sign

WOLD CHEESE COUNTER. Please take a number from the red machine by the door. Numbers come out in order and are called in order. Please wait until your number shows on the board. One ticket per customer.

Receipts handed to the hall manager

WOLD CHEESE COUNTER. Ticket 46. Smoked Wensleydale 200g, £4.10. (In pencil: Owen Pryce.) WOLD CHEESE COUNTER. Ticket 51. Red Leicester 250g, £3.20. (In pencil: Freya Lund.) WOLD CHEESE COUNTER. Ticket 53. Mature Cheddar 500g, £5.90. (In pencil: Sam Okafor.)

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Whose account cannot be true?

1 · Choose your answer Owen Freya Sam

2 · Which document proves it? Bryony's note — the box was still there when 47 was called The receipts — Owen held ticket 46 Sam's account — he paid into the box before joining the queue

Choose an answer and the document that proves it.

Show the answer and the breakdown

1. Bryony's note says the box was on her table when the cheese counter called 47, and gone when it called 49.

2. The sign says numbers come out of the machine in order, and Owen's receipt is ticket 46, so he took his ticket before 47 was called.

3. That means the box was still on the table when Owen took his ticket, so his account that everyone was already talking about it cannot be true.

4. Freya's ticket 51 and Sam's ticket 53 both fit what they said, so neither account is ruled out.

What the evidence does not prove. This does not prove Owen took the box. It proves only that he was in the hall, with a ticket in his hand, before the box went, and said he was not. Why he said it is a separate question — which is the kind of question the full case asks.

The full case is one envelope: the brief, a who's who, thirteen documents, sealed hints and the sealed explanation.

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