Printable Cold Case File Murder Mystery Game, 1-6 Players, Solo or Date Night

October 2006. The owner of the Hollow Pine Inn is found dead in his own wine cellar. The case is closed as "undetermined". Twenty years later, the evidence box is reopened, and it lands on your table.

A PRINTABLE COLD CASE FILE TO SOLVE AT HOME. INSTANT DIGITAL DOWNLOAD: print, sit down, investigate. For 1 to 6 players: solo, as a couple on date night, or with a small group. About 90-110 minutes, Medium-Hard, and the host can play too.

HOW IT WORKS
- Read the brief and the 5 questions you must answer.
- Sort the 20 pieces of evidence: police and lab reports, a floor plan, interviews, phone and bank records, receipts, a desk agenda, a newspaper clipping.
- Cross-check them on the deduction grid: a machine's clock against a person's story.
- Sign your accusation: killer, weapon, time, place, motive, and the one piece that proves it.
- Open the sealed solution and score yourselves.

QUICK FACTS
Pages: 35, in one PDF
Evidence: 20 numbered pieces, each on its own paper
Suspects: 5 persons of interest, one killer
Objectives: 5, scored out of 100, with detective ranks
Hints: 15, in 3 levels (nudge, narrow, answer), folded so you only see what you ask for
Solution: sealed inside the file, with the reasoning piece by piece
Players: 1-6 · Time: about 90-110 minutes (estimate) · Difficulty: Medium-Hard · Ages: 14+

NO WEBSITE NEEDED, NO APP
Many printable case files keep their hints and solution online. This one does not: every hint and the full solution are inside your PDF, so it works offline, tonight and in ten years. (Page 34 has one optional QR code for a free bonus checklist.) Print the sealed pages last, or staple them shut.

UNDERSTAND IT IN 30 SECONDS
Page 2 shows your evening in 5 steps, with the time and the pages you hold at each step. Page 3 is a worked example on a separate practice case, so you see exactly how a grid gets filled before you touch the real file.

FAIR AND SOLVABLE
No piece names the killer and nothing is stated outright. The answer comes from putting pieces side by side, and the solution was checked by a logic solver: there is exactly one answer that fits every piece.

TWO EDITIONS, BOTH INCLUDED
- COLOR: the full-color version.
- INK-SAVER: the same 35 pages on white backgrounds, black-and-white friendly.
Both editions, in US Letter AND A4, are in your download.

WHAT'S INCLUDED
- How to work this case (1 page) and a worked example (1 page)
- Spec sheet, cold case memo, evidence log, objectives and scoring
- Suspect dossier: 5 persons of interest
- 20 pieces of evidence (19 pages)
- 15 graduated hints
- A two-page accusation sheet: deduction grid and a timeline of the night to rebuild
- The sealed solution (2 pages) and a Certificate of Case Closure
- A one-page READ-ME-FIRST

THE PERSONS OF INTEREST
Eleanor Whitfield (the widow) - Sam Doyle (the bartender) - Victor Larch (the business partner) - Rosalind Kane (the ex-fiancee) - Otis Fenn (the groundskeeper). Every one of them has something to hide.

FAQ
Can I play alone? Yes. One detective can work the whole file.
Can the host play too? Yes. Nobody needs to know the answer before the seal is opened.
Do we need internet? No. Everything is inside the PDF; the one QR code on page 34 is an optional bonus.
What if we get stuck? Open one hint level at a time; it costs a few points, never the game.
Is it gory? No. Ages 14+, no gore, no photographs of the victim. Suspects are faceless silhouettes.

This is a DIGITAL DOWNLOAD only: nothing is shipped, files are available right after purchase. For personal, non-commercial use: please do not resell or share the files. The story and text were written with AI assistance, then checked by hand. Every document and silhouette is vector art drawn for this kit: no AI images, no photographs.