The First Cases
Every Morning Post Mystery so far — and a fourth case that money can't buy on its own.
Four complete print-and-play murder mysteries: a cold case in sheep country, a locked room in a storm, an impossible vanishing on the old Ghan — and the bundle-only Curtain at the Theatre Royal. Four cases for less than the price of three.
Get the set — $49 →Instant PDF download · Secure Stripe checkout · 14-day refund
Four nights of murder for your kitchen table.
The cases are $19 each — $57 for the three. The set is $49, and the fourth case comes with it.
The First Cases is everything Morning Post Mysteries has published: three full standalone cases, plus Curtain at the Theatre Royal — a quick, satisfying bonus case that exists only in this set. Each mystery is complete in itself: a different decade, a different corner of Australia, a different kind of puzzle. All four play fair — every clue is on the page.
Buy it once and it's yours: twelve PDFs to download, print as many times as your table needs, and pass around after dinner. Solve one a month, or make a long weekend of it.
Four complete cases. Twelve files.
Each case comes as three PDFs — the case file, a sealed clue, and the solution.
The Vanishing at Blackwattle Station
Cup Day, 1983: a family vanishes from their own luncheon. Twenty years on, a renovation finds what was meant to stay buried.
Storm at Wye Inn
A storm seals an Art Deco hotel on the shipwreck coast — and the proprietress is dead behind a door bolted twice from the inside.
Vanishing on the Ghan
A man vanishes from a sleeping compartment bolted on the inside, somewhere on Australia's loneliest line. The hard one.
Curtain at the Theatre Royal
Opening night at the oldest theatre in the country. The impresario is dead in the No. 1 dressing room by the interval — and a full house heard the murder weapon ring its Act II cue.
A full house heard the murder weapon.
Hobart, Friday 14 November 1958 — opening night of a touring revival at the oldest working theatre in the country. At the interval, impresario Cyril Wendover retires to the No. 1 dressing room. By the curtain call he's dead — and the cast-iron prop bell that killed him has been wiped clean, returned to its chalk mark on the props table, and rung on cue in Act II, over his head, in front of six hundred people.
It's the quickest case in the set — about an hour, difficulty 2 out of 5 — and the one most people play first. A theatre programme, six interviews, the stage-door book, an audit letter someone wishes had never been posted. Brisk, fair, and satisfying to crack.
It is never sold on its own. No separate page, no separate price — Curtain at the Theatre Royal exists only inside The First Cases.
Every case plays fair. Every clue you need is on the page — if you're reading closely enough to catch it.
You don't need anything but the files and an evening.
No app. No subscription. No one to post anything to. Buy it once, and it's yours to print and replay.
Download
Twelve PDFs land the moment you pay — three per case.
Pick a case
Most people warm up with the Theatre Royal, or start at case No. 1.
Work the evidence
Print it or read on screen — comb the file for the slip.
Make your call
Who did it — and the motive, and the method.
Open the solution
See how close you got. Then there's another case waiting.
Hello — I'm Nathan. I publish Morning Post, the daily newsletter you may have read this morning.
These four cases are everything our mystery desk has made so far: the Western District cold case that started it, the locked room on the Great Ocean Road, the vanishing on the old Ghan — and the Theatre Royal, which we built especially for this set, as a thank-you to anyone who takes the lot.
They're all written the same way: real-feeling Australian places and decades, documents that look like the documents they claim to be, and a strict fair-play rule — no clue you couldn't have caught yourself. No gore in any of them; the weight is in old grief and long-kept secrets, not blood.
Four cases should see you through a good stretch of evenings. The next mystery is already on the drawing board.
Four cases. One set. $49.
Buy it once and it's yours — print as many copies as your table needs.
The First Cases
Three cases, plus the one you can't buy.
- Blackwattle Station, Wye Inn & the Ghan — the full series so far
- Curtain at the Theatre Royal — bundle-only, never sold separately
- Instant PDF download — case, clue & solution for each
- 1 to 6 players · print at home or play on screen
- Fair-play mysteries — every clue is on the page
Instant PDF download · Secure Stripe checkout · 14-day refund
Just want one case? They're $19 each: Blackwattle Station, Wye Inn or the Ghan.
Before you take the set.
If yours isn't here, email me — I read every reply.
What exactly do I get?
Twelve PDFs, delivered instantly: four complete murder mysteries, each as a case file, a sealed clue file, and a solution file. You read the case, work out who did it, then check the solution. No app, no subscription, nothing in the post — print at home or read on screen.
How hard are they?
There's a spread, on purpose. The Theatre Royal is the gentle one (2/5, about an hour — most people play it first). Blackwattle Station and Wye Inn are proper middleweights (3.5/5). The Ghan is the hard one (4/5) — save it for a night you're feeling sharp.
Do the cases connect? Is there an order?
No — every case is fully standalone: different decade, different setting, different suspects. Play them in any order. The numbering is just the order we published them.
I already own one of the cases — is the set still worth it?
Usually, yes. The two cases you don't have would be $38 on their own; the set is $49 and adds the Theatre Royal, which can't be bought separately. If you own two of the three, the maths is tighter — buy the one you're missing for $19 instead, and know that the Theatre Royal may come around in a future set.
Why can't I buy the Theatre Royal on its own?
It was made as a thank-you for taking the full set — the palate cleanser between the big cases. Keeping it bundle-only is what makes the set the set. There's no plan to sell it separately.
How many people can play?
One to six per case. Solo, it's an evening with a pot of tea. With friends, a book club, or the family at Christmas, print a few copies and let everyone chase their own theory — four cases will see a group through a whole holiday.
Are they grim or gory?
No. The deaths are handled with restraint — the weight of every story is in old grief and long-kept secrets, not blood. They're adult mysteries in the tradition of Australian detective fiction, perfectly at home on the dinner table.
Won't I spoil them for myself?
Each solution is a separate file for exactly that reason. Read a case, make your call, then open its solution. The clue files are self-contained nudges, so you can take a hint without seeing the answer.
Are they Australian?
Through and through. A Western District sheep station in 1983, a Great Ocean Road hotel in 1988, the old narrow-gauge Ghan in 1978, and the Theatre Royal in 1958 Hobart — written in Australian English, with the texture of each place and period. The characters and events are invented.
What if I'm not happy?
14-day no-questions-asked refund. Reply to your Stripe receipt and we'll sort it within 48 hours.
Who's behind this?
Morning Post — Australia's daily newsletter for grown-ups, read every morning across six capital cities. Published by Just Media Network Pty Ltd (ABN 62 638 812 236).
Four cases. One of them can't be bought.
The whole series so far, for less than the price of three.
The First Cases
Three cases, plus the one you can't buy.
Instant PDF download · Secure Stripe checkout · 14-day refund
The Vanishing at Blackwattle Station, Storm at Wye Inn, Vanishing on the Ghan and Curtain at the Theatre Royal are works of fiction. All characters, names, businesses and events are invented; any resemblance to real people or actual events is coincidental. Real places — including the Great Ocean Road, the old Central Australia Railway and the Theatre Royal, Hobart — are used atmospherically and with respect. They are games for entertainment.
Published by Just Media Network Pty Ltd (ABN 62 638 812 236), trading as Morning Post. © 2026.