Channel Your Inner Sherlock With These 98 Detective Riddles

A king with no queen, sons, or daughters decides to work out a way of choosing his next in line. He gives all the children in the kingdom a single seed and says that whoever has the largest, most beautiful plant will inherit his throne. When the day comes, all the children present gargantuan plants, but he decides to choose a little girl with an empty plant pot as his successor. Why? 

A man is in court for killing his wife. In the closing statements, the man’s lawyer surprises everyone when he announces “His wife was just missing. Everyone looks at those doors. His wife is going to walk in those doors in about 30 seconds.” The entire court is silent and the jury stares at the door as the lawyer and the defendant staring at them. After a couple of minutes, the lawyer says “See! If you were so sure he killed his wife, you wouldn’t be watching that door!” The jury goes into deliberation and comes back almost immediately with a guilty verdict. Why did the jury convict him?

A man was found dead with a cassette recorder in one hand and a gun in his other hand. When the police came in, they immediately pressed the play button on the cassette. They heard the man say, “I have nothing else to live for. I can’t go on.” Then there was the sound of a gunshot. After listening to the cassette tape, the police knew that it was not a suicide, but a homicide. How did they know? 

On a Sunday morning, the police are called to a big house because the owner was found dead. The husband said he was asleep, the butler said he was cleaning the car, the gardener said she was picking vegetables, the maid said she was collecting the mail, and the cook said she was preparing breakfast. Who committed the crime? 

A couple went to Hawaii for their honeymoon. Unfortunately, the husband returned home alone because his wife had died in a horrible boating accident. The police contacted the travel agent he booked the trip with and arrested him for murdering his wife. How did they know he did it? 

A dead body is found at the bottom of a multistory building. Seeing the position of the body, it is evident that the person jumped from one of the floors, committing suicide. A homicide detective is called to look after the case. He goes to the first floor and walks into the room facing the direction in which the body was found. He opens the window in that direction and flips a coin towards the floor. Then he goes to the second floor and repeats the process. He keeps on doing this until he reaches the last floor. Then, when he climbs down he tells the team that it is a murder, not suicide. How did he come to know that it was a murder? 

A Japanese ship was leaving the port and on its way to open sea. The captain went to go oil some parts of the ship and took his ring off so it wouldn’t get damaged. He left it on the table next to his bunk. When he returned, it was missing. He had suspected three crew members could be guilty and asked them what they had been doing for the ten minutes that he had been gone. The cook said, “I was in the kitchen preparing tonight’s dinner.” The engineer said, “I was working in the engine room making sure everything was running smoothly.” The seaman said, “I was on the mast correcting the flag because someone had attached it upside down by mistake.” The captain immediately knew who it was. How? 

Once upon a time, an evil witch kidnapped three married women and turned them into rose bushes. One of the women, who had children, begged the witch to go and see her husband, and the witch agreed. She took the woman to her home and returned her to her rose bush state the next morning. Little did she know that the husband was following, and he decided to rescue his wife. He looked at the three identical rose bushes and suddenly knew which one was his wife. How? 

A queen had a bowl of golden apples in her court which were her most treasured possession. One day, one of the apples went missing. She gathered all the members of the court together and told them that the way she would discover the robber was by having them all touch a rusty pot with a rooster in with the lights off. The rooster would then crow when the robber touched the rusty pot. However, the rooster didn’t crow throughout the whole court, touching the rusty pot. Despite this, the queen knew who had stolen the apple. How? 

Dave and Brad, two popular politicians, met at a club to discuss the overthrow of their party leader. They each ordered a vodka on the rocks. Brad downed his and ordered another. He then drank his second in a gulp and decided to wait before he ordered a third. Meanwhile, Dave, who was sipping his drink, suddenly fell forward dead. Both men were set up for assassination. Why did Dave die and Brad live? 

A rich man's son was kidnapped. The ransom note told him to bring a valuable diamond to a phone booth in the middle of a public park. Plainclothes police officers surrounded the park, intending to follow the criminal or his messenger. The rich man arrived at the phone booth and followed instructions but the police were powerless to prevent the diamond from leaving the park and reaching the crafty villain. What did he do? 

One day, when I was six years old, my little sister would not stop crying. It annoyed me so much that I killed her and threw her body down the well. The next day, when I peered down into the well, her body had disappeared. When I was twelve, I got into an argument with my best friend over something stupid. He made me so angry that I killed him and threw his body down the well. The next day, when I checked the well, his body had disappeared.When I was 18 years old, my girlfriend got pregnant. I didn't want to be a father, so I killed her and threw her body down the well.The next day when I looked in the well, her body had disappeared. When I was 24, I worked in an office and my boss was very mean to me. I couldn't take it any more so I killed him and threw his body down the well. The next day when I checked the well, his body had disappeared. When I was 30, my mother got sick and was bedridden. I didn't want to take care of her, so I killed her threw her body down the well. The next day when I looked into the well, her body was still there. I checked the well every day after that, but her body never disappeared. Why didn't my mother's body disappear? 

Every day, a woman was seen crossing the border carrying bags of sand on a motorbike. After some time, the border police become suspicious and stopped her, but found she only had sand on her, so they let her go. What was the woman smuggling across the border?

A renowned chemist is found dead in his lab. There is no clear evidence except a piece of paper lying by the body. The paper is blank other than the name of five elements scrawled across it hastily: – Nickel – Carbon – Oxygen – Lanthanum – Sulfur The guard reported that three people visited the chemist that day – his sister, Laura; his colleague, Nicolas; and his wife, Tessa. The criminal was arrested immediately. Who was it? 

A man murders his wife with a knife in their car. Nobody is around to see this. He throws her out of the car being careful not to leave any fingerprints on her body. Next, he throws the knife off of a cliff into a valley where it will never be found and he goes home. An hour later the police call him and tell him that his wife has been murdered and he needs to come to the scene of the crime immediately. As soon as he arrives, he is arrested. How did they know he did it? 

“Who shot her?” cried Rogers as he rushed into the hospital three minutes after his ex-wife died from a bullet through her head. “Just a minute, Mr. Rogers,” said Professor Stiggins. “We’ll have to ask you a few questions-routine, you know. Although divorced for the past six months, you have been living in the same house with your ex-wife, have you not?” “That’s right,” replied Rogers. “Had any trouble recently?” “Well, yesterday, when I told her I was going on a business trip, she threatened to commit suicide. In fact, I grabbed a bottle of iodine from her as she was about to drink it. When I left last evening at seven, however, telling her I was spending the night with friends in Sewickley, she made no objection. Returning to town this afternoon,” continued Rogers, “I called my home and the maid answered.” “Just what did she say?” inquired Stiggins. “‘Oh, Mr. Rogers, they took poor mistress to St. Ann’s Hospital about half an hour ago. Please hurry to her.’ “She was crying, so I couldn’t get anything else out of her; then I hurried here. Where is she?” “The nurse will direct you,” said Stiggins with a nod. “A queer case, this, Professor,” said Inspector Kelley. “These moderns are a little too much for me, I’m afraid. A man and woman living together after being divorced six months!” “A queer case indeed, Inspector,” mused the professor, “and you’d better detain Mr. Rogers. If he didn’t shoot her himself, I’m confident he knows who did.” Why did the professor advise the Inspector to detain Rogers? 

A man was killed in his office. At the time of murder, there were only four people in the office: Bill, Tom, Harry, and Mike. When police interrogated them, they gave the following statements. Bill: “Tom did it.” Tom: “Bill did it.” Harry: “Tom’s telling the truth.” Mike: “Harry’s not lying.” After analysis, the police found out that only one person was telling the truth and the rest were lying. Can you analyse the statements and determine the killer? 

A man is found dead one Saturday morning. He was killed while his wife was sleeping. The wife tells the police all that she knows. She tells them that the cook was cooking breakfast, the maid was cleaning and the butler was getting the mail. The police immediately arrest the person who is responsible. Who is responsible and why?

It was the first day of school when a young girl was found dead in the classroom. Police had identified four suspects. The Dean claimed that he was in his office the whole day. The Maths teacher claimed that she was giving the midterm exam results to her students. The clerk claimed that he was bringing the mail. The janitor claimed that he was cleaning the toilet on the first floor. Who was lying? 

A rich and handsome man named James Leonard was murdered on a Sunday afternoon. At the time of the murder, there was: the maid, the cook, the butler, the gardener, and the wife. They gave the following statements. Maid: "I was fixing the table." Cook: "I was cooking breakfast." Butler: "I was polishing the silverware and the dishes." Gardener: "I was planting tomato seeds." Wife: "I was reading a book." Who did it?