Written and designed on Martha’s Vineyard
The Vineyard Files
The truth is in the details.
Cooperative mystery case files. A real folder of evidence you spread across the table and solve with the people you like, at your own pace.
A mystery you can hold in your hands and pass across a table.
Each case is a real file placed in your hands: documents, photographs, maps, notes, reports and layered clues that slowly give up the truth. Not a party game. Not a puzzle you throw away. A case you solve.
Real paper. Real folders.
Evidence that doesn’t sort itself, printed to be handled, spread out, argued over and pieced together.
A real island.
Every case is set on Martha’s Vineyard. The ferry, the harbor and the streets are part of the logic, the mood and the reveal.
Endings that feel earned.
Smart clue logic and twists that are surprising but fair. You don’t just read a story. You solve one.
Case 001, The Wrong Tide, is the first file. Here it is, up close.
The Wrong Tide
“The tide keeps its own record. It does not always agree with the one on paper.”
Every case opens the same way: a briefing prepared for the investigator now in possession of the file. This is the first page of Case 001, word for word.
Detective,
On the morning of September 14, 2025, the body of prominent Martha’s Vineyard businessman and donor Graham Vale was recovered along the Edgartown waterfront, hours after a high-profile charity fundraiser attended by several of the island’s most visible figures.
The official theory has shifted more than once. Statements conflict. Timelines fray under pressure.
Some investigators believe Graham Vale was killed near where he was found. Others are no longer sure that the harbor was the true scene at all.
Your task is to determine:
- Who killed Graham Vale.
- How the murder happened.
- Why it happened.
- Which pieces of evidence prove it.
The truth is in the details.The Vineyard Files
You are reviewing a real case file. Read carefully. Trust nothing automatically.
- 01Doc 01
Start with the briefing.
The Detective Briefing is your invitation into the case. It tells you the setting, the victim, and what is being asked of you. Read it first, even if everything else looks more interesting.
- 02Docs 02 to 05
Read the police file.
Case summary, incident report, evidence inventory and the medical examiner’s report. The facts that are not in dispute. Note what stands out, but do not draw conclusions yet.
- 03Docs 06 to 15
Get to know the people.
Five dossiers and five witness statements. People reveal themselves not only in what they say, but in what they refuse to say, and in what they say with too much care.
- 04Docs 16 to 27
Work the evidence.
Phone logs, text messages, the ferry schedule, the tide chart, the harbor map, scene photographs and a case from 2016. The small details that make or break a theory.
- 05Doc 23
Name the killer.
Write it down on the Final Accusation Worksheet. Name the killer. Name the scene. Cite the evidence. Reconstruct the sequence in your own words.
- 06Doc 25
Break the seal.
Open the sealed solution and see how close you got. Not a moment before. Once you read the answer, you cannot un-read it.
Four hint cards, sealed.
Open Hint One first, and only open the next if you are still stuck. None of them name the killer.
Do not open the sealed solution before you have completed the accusation. The game is best played in order. Trust the order.
Someone in this folder knows more than they are saying.
DecedentGraham Henry Vale 48
Investor in transportation and marine holdings. Left the fundraiser alone, before midnight.
Person of interestHelena Price 36
Event director. She ran the September 13 benefit.
Person of interestDaniel Mercer 52
Attorney at Mercer & Hale, Edgartown. Vale’s outside counsel since 2018.
Person of interestNora Bennett 33
Independent investigative journalist. The only one of them born on the Vineyard.
Person of interestSilas Rowe 41
Ferry maintenance contractor. Fourth-generation Chappaquiddick.
Neutral witnessLena Corbett
Weekend valet at the benefit. No motive, no agenda, no reason to lie.
Portraits and dossiers from the case file. The people inside the file are not real. The events did not happen.
Evidence that doesn’t sort itself.
Police reports, medical notes, witness statements, phone records, maps, newspapers, receipts and the things people left behind. Printed on real paper, to be handled, argued over and pieced together.
No app, no host and no narrator in Case 001. Just the case and the people willing to solve it.
The harbor is real. The ferry is real.
The streets are where we say they are. The people inside the file are not. Every case is set somewhere on the island, and the island is part of the logic, the mood and the reveal.
- 001The Wrong TideEdgartown and ChappaquiddickAvailable now
- 002Against The LightAnother corner of the islandClassified
- 003The Lake of MysteryComing 2027Classified
Hold it in your hands. Then open it.
Drag to turn it over
The Wrong Tide
A mystery case file
A body washes ashore in Edgartown Harbor. What first appears to be a tragic accident begins to come apart almost immediately. Set in the days after the summer season has ended, it is a quiet, careful mystery for people who like to take their time.
- Players
- 1 to 5
- Minutes
- 90 to 150
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Ages
- 16 and up
Local delivery on Martha’s Vineyard, $5 · U.S. shipping, $9.99 flat · Unopened folders can be returned within 14 days.
Written and designed on Martha’s Vineyard, and every case is put together by hand on the island.
Stock the cases.
For independent bookshops, stationers, museum stores and gift shops that love paper and a good mystery. Each case arrives in its retail folder, ready for the shelf.
- First order
- Six folders minimum, mix of titles
- Pricing
- 40% off the retail price
- Terms
- Net 30 after the first paid order
- Delivery
- Free local delivery on island; U.S. shipping available
- Reorders
- Usually sent within a week