Peril at the Edge of the World
Hints & Solutions
Peril at the Edge of the World
Bonus discovery (envelope 1)
Hint 1
That's a lovely luggage tag. But who is the owner?
Hint 2
Don't miss the note on the back of the tag – it points to a bonus discovery.
Hint 3
The box has a false bottom – a secret envelope.
Solution
Nellie Bly has another niece who is also competing in the race: Alicia Almeida
Victim
Hint 1
These four pretty postcards contain hidden letters…
Hint 2
Rearrange the hidden letters, and you'll find they spell ‘dies’ – pointing to the victim.
The postcards are from famous cities, can you name them?
Hint 3
Place the postcards in order so that the hidden letters spell 'dies'.
Take the first letter of each city depicted in the postcards to reveal the victim's name.
Hint 4
The cities are: Venice, Edinburgh, Rio, Agra.
Solution
Vera Byrd
Name of ship where body was stowed
Hint 1
The shipping timetable from the Panama Canal Port is looking rather bare…
Hint 2
Perhaps an item from a country not too far away from Panama could help.
Hint 3
Solve the logic puzzle on the Rio postcard to fill-in the shipping timetable, and deduce the name of the ship where the body was stowed.
Hint 4
The completed timetable gives the following information:
SS California, 13.55, Dock 2
SS Antwerp, 14.35, Dock 4
RMS Singapore 15.20, Dock 8
RMS Alexandria, 18.55, Dock 7
SS Callao 19.35, Dock 5
Solution
RMS Alexandria
City of murder
Hint 1
These four passports seem to have marks across their back covers…
Hint 2
When you place the passports of the same colour next to each other, they spell two words: ‘lat’ and ‘long’.
Together with the numbers on the front cover, what could these refer to?
Hint 3
The passport numbers refer to a latitude and longitude.
Look up these coordinates, either online or on the map (from envelope 2) to discover the city of the murder.
Solution
Hong Kong
Date of murder
Hint 1
The ship’s timetable doesn’t look very helpful, but perhaps it’s more informative than it seems.
Hint 2
Have you noticed the flags along the bottom of the timetable? What kind of flags are they?
Hint 3
Look up the nautical flags – each one symbolises a number. You may want to search for this online. The numbers form a date in the format DD/MM/YYYY.
Solution
5th February 1930
Weapon and accomplice
Hint 1
Look at the passports – one of the competitors seems to take a rather odd route.
Hint 2
Meredith’s passport stamps, when viewed chronologically, show that she wasn’t travelling around the world like the others. Look at the Asia map – perhaps you can deduce her plan…
Hint 3
Chart the locations of Meredith’s journey on the Asia map. Follow her journey by joining up each of the points in chronological order. What shape appears?
Solution
Knife, procured by Meredith
Who cheated, and how
Hint 1
The newspaper’s personal ads are all rather unusual, but one may describe someone familiar.
Also, it seems this telegram makes no sense at all! Perhaps it’s encoded?
Hint 2
The third personals advert describes someone that looks like, and is the same age as, Topher. Perhaps Topher’s airship baggage tag will help you crack the telegram’s code.
Also, notice some unusual markings on the telegram.
Hint 3
There are four red and blue corner marks near the bottom of the telegram. The corners of the airship tag are also red and blue. Align the corners with the marks in four different positions, and you’ll find the tag underlines certain letters. Together, these reveal a secret message.
Hint 4
When aligned, this message is revealed: Topher hired a doppelganger
Solution
Topher stayed at home and hired a doppelgänger to travel in his place.
Who won the race
Hint 1
Eugene may be a dog, but he has his fair share of secrets! According to his newspaper advert, his ‘Hound’s Best’ dog food is for ‘real winners!’
Note that the advert starts ‘Between Eugene and Me…’
Hint 2
Eugene can direct you to the ‘real winner’ of the race. Eugene gazes up at the Sorello Styles advert, in which an acrostic is hidden.
Take the first letter of each word in the fashion advert and see what you find…
Hint 3
Take the first letter of each word from ‘Each Unique…’ to ‘…Mesmerise Elegantly’ and the result is ‘EUGENE ALICIA ME’.
Remember the beginning of the advert says ‘Between Eugene and me…’, indicating the name ‘Alicia’.
Solution
Alicia Almeida
Specific motive
Hint 1
Clearly, money is the main motivation for murder. But what action prompted the murderer to strike?
There are some interesting shapes on the Siam travel advert…
Hint 2
Place the feng shui coins onto the bubbles in the travel ad. The centre square of the coins outline one or two letters. Combine them to reveal the killer’s motive.
Hint 3
When taken in order, the coins reveal the words ‘Killed for last NYC ticket’.
This was a crucial final leg of the journey to New York, for which the victim had bought the last plane ticket – see the message on the telegram strip.
The murderer mistakenly feared the victim was in the lead.
Solution
Victim bought the last plane ticket from Panama City to New York City, which the murderer wanted. The murderer believed this ticket would allow them to win the race.
Murderer
Hint 1
Have you noticed the names of non-competitors spread across clues? Gather their six names (initials and surnames).
Hint 2
The non-competitors’ names are spread across the following items: shipping timetable, telegram strip, telegram, newspaper article, newspaper clipping, travel advert.
What do these names have in common?
Hint 3
The six names are as follows:
- K Wren (Harbormaster - see Panama Canal shipping timetable)
- I Finch (Journalist - see newspaper snippet)
- L Oriole (Pan Am employee - see Siam travel ad)
- L Partridge (Ship's Captain - see telegram strip)
- E Swan (Postmaster - see telegram)
- R Crane (Journalist - see main newspaper article)
When rearranged, the first initials of each name spell ‘killer’. Their surnames are all bird species.
Hint 4
This points to two possible characters being the killer (two share the surname ‘Byrd’).
Once you have identified the victim, they can be eliminated from suspicion.
Solution
Henry Byrd