The Case of the Torn Page
A page is torn out of a hundred-year-old cookbook in a library display case. Four people were in the history room — and one of them is lying. Read the clues, then tell us: who tore out page 47?
This mystery takes no more than five minutes from start to finish. Read it, listen to it, or use your screen reader — the story is the same either way.
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It was Saturday morning at the Riverside Public Library, and the history room was holding its monthly history hour. Inside a glass display case sat a hundred-year-old cookbook, The Fairview Ladies’ Cookbook, open to page 47 — a famous apple pie recipe that people came from across town to see.
At eleven o’clock, Elena, the librarian, unlocked the display case so visitors could look at the cookbook up close. She stayed in the room, watching, while four people came and went.
At eleven-fifteen, Clara, a food blogger, took a photograph of the cookbook. The photograph showed page 47 still in place, safe and whole.
Elena locked up the history room’s other cabinets, then stepped out to answer a phone call. She left the display case unlocked, because Tom, a college student, had asked to stay a few more minutes to look at the old maps on the table. Tom was alone in the history room from eleven-fifteen to eleven-thirty.
At eleven-thirty, Elena came back. Tom was gone. She went to lock the display case — and stopped cold. Page 47 had been torn out. The cookbook was left with a ragged edge where the apple pie recipe used to be.
The torn edge was bright white and fresh, and a tiny scrap of paper lay on the floor beside the case. The page had been torn out minutes earlier — not hours, not days.
Earlier that morning, Tom had asked Elena about the apple pie recipe. He said his grandmother used to make a pie like it, and he had always wanted the recipe for himself.
Elena asked each of the four visitors where they had been.
Tom said, “I left at eleven-ten to catch my bus. I was never alone in that room.”
Clara said, “I took my photograph at eleven-fifteen and left right after. Elena saw me go.” Elena nodded. She had watched Clara walk out the door.
Mrs. Alvarez, a volunteer, said, “I was shelving books in the main reading room the whole time.” The librarian at the front desk had seen her there, cart and all, from eleven to eleven-thirty.
Mr. Patel, a retired teacher, said, “I was reading the newspapers in the main reading room.” Two other readers had sat beside him the whole morning.
Elena looked again at Clara’s photograph. In the glass of the display case, behind Clara’s shoulder, you could see a reflection: Tom, still standing by the map table.
Elena said, “Tom, if you left at eleven-ten, why are you in this photograph, taken at eleven-fifteen?”
Who tore out page 47?
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You solved the mystery!
Tom tore out the page. Clara’s photograph proves page 47 was still in place at eleven-fifteen — and the reflection in the display-case glass shows Tom still in the room at eleven-fifteen, even though he claimed he left at eleven-ten. Tom was then alone with the unlocked case from eleven-fifteen to eleven-thirty, the only window in which the page could have been torn. Clara left right after her photograph, Mrs. Alvarez was shelving in the main reading room with a witness, and Mr. Patel was reading newspapers with two readers beside him.
Questions or feedback about this mystery? Email chappell1583@gmail.com.
Not quite!
While everyone argues, Tom slips out with page 47 tucked inside his notebook — and the cookbook is left with a ragged gap where the apple pie recipe used to be.
Questions or feedback about this mystery? Email chappell1583@gmail.com.