How to play Motive, the murder mystery sudoku

A body was found in the house, and a red cross marks the spot; nobody can stand there. A few people were inside, and one of them is the killer. Each person stood on exactly one square of the floor plan.

1. No two people share a row or a column, and neither does the body.
2. Tables, plants, bookcases and pianos block their squares; rugs, chairs and sofas can be stood on.
3. Every statement is true, and together they fix where everyone stood.
4. Whoever ends up alone with the body is the killer.
5. A placement that breaks a statement costs a heart. Lose three and the case starts again.

• Beside: directly above, below, left or right, and inside the same room. A wall breaks it.
• In a room: somewhere in that room; any square of it counts.
• Rows and columns: rows are numbered down the left side, columns across the top.
• Alone in a room: nobody else was in that room, not even the body.
• An empty room: nobody stood anywhere inside it.
• Back to an outer wall: on the outside edge of the floor plan.
• North, south, east, west: north is up the board and west is to the left.

1. Tap a statement to pick the person it is about.
2. Rings show every square that person could still be standing on.
3. Tap a ring to place them.
4. Use Rule out to pencil a cross on a square you have eliminated.

1. Start with statements that name a row, a column or a small room: they leave the fewest rings.
2. Every placement wipes out a whole row and column for everyone else, so place the most constrained suspect first.
3. Count furniture: a room full of tables and pianos may have only one square anyone can stand on.
4. Read "alone in a room" and "empty room" together. They remove whole rooms from every other suspect.
5. Leave the killer for last. Once everyone else is placed, the person alone with the body is the answer.