detectiveSQL
EST. 1888 · LONDON
CONFIDENTIAL · FOR THE EYES OF THE DETECTIVE ONLY
The city is full of dirty data.
Only a true detective can crack it.
Welcome to the agency, gumshoe. The cases are filed below. Each one hides its truth in a database — and the only way in is a clean, cold, well-formed query. Pour yourself a drink. Light a cigarette. Let's get to work.
/ THE DOSSIER
Active Case Files
Misdemeanor
FILE No. 001 · 1891
OPENThe Blue Lantern Affair
WHITECHAPEL, LONDON
"The window was broken. The till was open. But the thief left the silver and took a lantern worth almost nothing."
4 TABLESINVESTIGATE →FILE No. 002 · 1892
OPENThe Black Ribbon Séance
BLOOMSBURY, LONDON
"The séance named the blackmailer. But the handwriting on the accusation belongs to someone else entirely."
4 TABLESINVESTIGATE →FILE No. 003 · 1892
OPENThe Rhyme at Alderwick Hall
ALDERWICK HALL, KENSINGTON
"Sir Rowan collapsed in his locked study. No one admitted entering. The only witness was a poem."
5 TABLESINVESTIGATE →
Felony
FILE No. 001 · 1894
OPENThe Emerald Street Murder
EMERALD STREET, LONDON
"A banker dead in his private office. Suicide, they said. The locked door and the carriage records say otherwise."
4 TABLESINVESTIGATE →FILE No. 003 · 1892
OPENThe Red Wax Letter
MAYFAIR, LONDON
"A collector found unconscious. A letter half-burned. A rare book missing. Four guests who all claim to have left — but one of them didn't."
5 TABLESINVESTIGATE →FILE No. 004 · 1891
PENDINGThe Covent Garden Swindle
ROYAL THEATRE, COVENT GARDEN
"The box office was full every night. The safe was not. Someone has been skimming the receipts."
4 TABLESINVESTIGATE →
Capital
FILE No. 005 · 1893
COLDThe Limehouse Web
LIMEHOUSE, EAST LONDON
"Three men dead in six weeks. No witnesses. But ships keep records, and records don't forget."
5 TABLESINVESTIGATE →FILE No. 006 · 1893
OPENThe Clockmaker's Last Hour
HOLBORN, LONDON
"A clockmaker found dead. The regulator stopped at 11:17. The missing watch held more than just time."
12 TABLESINVESTIGATE →
/ THE METHOD
Three steps to a confession.
- I.
Read the file
Every case opens with a briefing — the crime, the players, the patterns to look for. Read it twice. Detail matters.
- II.
Study the evidence
You'll be shown the schema of the database in evidence. Tables, columns, foreign keys. The truth is in there somewhere.
- III.
Submit your query
Write the SQL that exposes the culprit. One query. One answer. Get it right and the case closes.