Online 5 Minute Mysteries

Ready to join the ranks of 5 Minute Mystery's Top Sleuths? 5 Minute Mysteries are short, challenging mysteries posted Monday and Friday.

Choose the clues1. Choose the clues.

Read each mystery carefully and select which clues either incriminate or exonerate each suspect. Earn points for finding all of the clues.

Choose your suspect2. Choose your suspect.

Select the guilty suspect from the list once you've found all of the clues.

Solve the case3. Solve the case.

Submit your clues and suspect decision to earn points. The more difficult the case, the more points you'll earn. The solutions are released the day after each mystery is published.

Solve the most recent mystery, then visit the archives to solve more! Move up in the rankings by choosing all of the correct clues and suspects and earning bonus points for solving more difficult cases.

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The Haunted Portrait

Re-published March 8th, 2010, Written by William Shepard It was one of those Gothic tragedies, I suppose -- or quite possibly a practical joke gone terribly wrong. Here in Scotland, one must be prepared for anything. Still, when Chief Inspector McIntyre assigned me to the case, fresh from my commissioning as a detective, you could say I felt a bit nervous. After all, this was my first real case.

But I am getting ahead of myself. And perhaps you are the only ones who didn’t awaken to STOP PRESS inserts in the newspapers announcing the ghastly death of Lord Auchinlech. It made a dramatic scene. Lord Auchinlech’s body was found on the second floor gallery of his residence in the south wing of Auchinlech Castle, just beyond the staircase. From the horrible look on his face, and the fact that his right hand was rolled into a tight ball over his heart, it appeared he had been frightened to death.

Continue Reading >> 33% Solve Rate Easy


Death at Andersonville

Re-published March 5th, 2010, Written by Tom Fowler Andersonville Military Prison, deep in the heart of Dixieland Georgia, was the most dreaded of Confederate prisoner-of-war camps. It was such a grim place that the rebel soldiers guarding it were fed and clothed little better than their 33,000 Yankee prisoners. From its inception in February 1864, until the Civil War’s end 14 months later, 13,000 prisoners would die; an astonishing 29% mortality rate. Many of the Union soldiers succumbed to starvation and exposure to the elements, but some were also murdered, as was the case with Private Glendenning Bryan.

Continue Reading >> 48% Solve Rate Easy

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