Read the evidence. Study the suspects. Solve the case.
Desmond Farrow
Greystone House Recording Studios, Marsden, West Yorkshire — autumn 1976
A residential recording studio in a converted Georgian farmhouse on the moors above Marsden, near Huddersfield. The studio was established in 1971 by record producer Desmond Farrow, who converted the old threshing barn into a live room with a control booth. The house accommodates musicians during sessions. In October 1976, the studio is hosting a week-long recording session for folk-rock band The Rowanberry, who are making their third album. The session has been tense: the band is fracturing over creative differences, their label is threatening to drop them, and Farrow has been drinking heavily.
Electrocution via modified microphone connected to a sabotaged amplifier. A lethal current passed through the microphone housing when Farrow gripped it while standing on the stone floor of the live room.
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Desmond Farrow
Greystone House Recording Studios, Marsden, West Yorkshire, 1976
“Electrocution via modified microphone connected to a sabotaged amplifier. A lethal current passed through the microphone housing when Farrow gripped it while standing on the stone floor of the live room.”
Mr Cornelius Hartwell
Hartwell Grange, a gentleman's estate near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, 1895
“Poisoning by atropine, derived from belladonna (deadly nightshade) berries, administered in a blackberry cordial”
Gerald Hargreaves
Hargreaves & Son Textile Mill, Thornwick, West Yorkshire, 1977
“Smoke inhalation and burns sustained in a deliberately set fire at the mill's finishing shed. The fire was started using paraffin as an accelerant. The rear exit of the shed was bolted from the outside, trapping the victim.”
Major Cedric Ashwell, MC
Hartley Grange, a requisitioned country house serving as a convalescent home for wounded officers, on the edge of the village of Hartley St Martin, Wiltshire, 1946
“Blunt force trauma to the right temple from a heavy marble bust of Augustus Caesar, struck while standing at the foot of the main staircase”
Mr Aldous Kirkham
The Jermyn Baths, a Turkish bath house on Jermyn Street, St James's, London, 1927
“Severed carotid artery and jugular vein. Throat cut with a straight razor while reclined in the barber's chair in Private Room B.”
Professor Helen Vickers
The Wainwright Building, Ashworth University, English Midlands, 2025
“Anaphylactic shock caused by ingestion of concentrated peanut protein. Her EpiPen auto-injector had been swapped with an expired unit that failed to deliver an adequate dose of adrenaline.”