FILE No.85Unsolved
In the middle of the night, jewels were stolen from a safe in a country house. In the garden was a guard dog that barks at every stranger who comes onto the grounds. Yet the servants say they did not hear the dog even once that night.
The dog was in good health the next morning. There was no sign it had been given a sleeping drug or poison, and there were paw prints showing it had been walking around the garden during the night.
What can we conclude about the culprit?
If you get stuck, open the hints one at a time, in order.
Was the dog asleep?
Does a dog bark at strangers?
What does it mean that the dog stayed quiet?
What can we conclude about the culprit?
Choose the answer closest to the truth.
Someone the dog knew well, a member of the household
The answer is: someone the dog knew well, a member of the household.
The dog was not drugged and was awake in the garden. A stranger would have made it bark, and it did not. So the culprit was someone the dog knew and was used to, probably a member of the household.
Sometimes what did not happen is as important a clue as what did.
We focus on what happened and overlook what failed to happen.
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