The Glasshouse

Laura Watson spent her evenings the same way: a cup of chamomile tea in the glasshouse behind her Rosemount house, among orchids she'd nursed for years. Two nights before she died, she told her family at dinner she was rewriting her will. She never made the appointment that would have finalized it. The coroner wrote her heart gave out. Her nephew came to us two days after the funeral and said that doesn't sit right — his aunt was careful, methodical, not the kind of woman whose heart just quits without warning, and she'd looked afraid at that last dinner, afraid of something she wouldn't name. We've got a family with strong opinions about money, a cancelled solicitor's appointment nobody rebooked, and a cup somebody rinsed clean. Family court lawyers make enemies for a living. We're finding out which one followed her home.

Five chapters, one linear story, about two and a half hours on the clock. How hard it is, the people who played it say on this door once five of them have rated it.

One purchase, three attempts. A started team is an attempt. Only your first attempt lands on the leaderboard.

A case is chapters. Each chapter opens at a place everyone goes to, hands out one lead per detective, and closes with a lead that needs what everyone brought back. Nobody can run ahead: the next chapter opens when the team gets there.

Everyone has their own car. Pick 1–4 detectives; it locks when the case starts. On a team, each detective sees only their own lead and drives it while the others drive theirs; every paper anyone finds goes into the team's locker, the whole team is told when a lead is found or a door opens, and riding along to a teammate's stop is free.

One desk for the team. A framed map with your route on it, a folder for every place, and a cork board the leads and papers land on by themselves, for everyone to move around.

Teammates need no account. Share the join code or the link; up to three guests can sit at the table. Only the leader starts, pauses and submits.

Score. Right answers first, then fewer rides, then time. Going back to a place you have seen is free; a wrong gate code costs a ride; a hint on a lead costs one. The board is per team size.