The Cozy Mystery Clue & Suspect Log

You were already solving it. Now there's a notebook that keeps up.

Somewhere around chapter twelve of every good cozy, the tea goes cold — because the thing the housekeeper said in chapter three has just changed shape, and you are no longer reading. You're investigating: six suspects, four timelines and one suspiciously clean teapot, all held in your head, with nowhere to write any of it down.

The Cozy Mystery Clue & Suspect Log is the detective's notebook for that reader. A Case Opened page (the sleuth, the setting, the puzzle in one line — and your page-30 suspect, named on pure instinct, before you have a shred of evidence). A Suspect Board that asks means, motive and opportunity of everyone equally. A Clue Ledger that keeps what a clue looks like in a separate column from what it might really mean — because a fair-play mystery lives in the gap. An Alibi & Timeline Grid that gives a lying alibi nowhere comfortable to sit. A Red-Herring Watch and a hand-drawn Motive Map for when the people matter more than the clues. And on the last page of every case: your verdict, written, dated and sealed before the reveal — then the Reveal Debrief, which grades you on the ten-point Detective Score, and grades the book right back: did it play fair?

What's inside

• The Fair-Play Pact — the five rules that make the game honest, and the Detective Score rubric the whole log grades by
• The Detective's Desk — Cases Closed index · Series Sleuths (the detectives who become friends) · My Detective Stats
• 5 complete six-page Case Files — designed to be reprinted or duplicated for every book after that
• Case Opened — the puzzle in one crime-neutral line, the stakes, and your evidence-free page-30 suspect
• The Suspect Board — six suspect blocks; means, motive and opportunity asked of everyone equally, with a shade-in suspicion meter
• The Clue Ledger — the heart of the log: clue, chapter, looks-like vs might-really-mean, paid off? — plus the moveable star for the key clue
• Alibi & Timeline Grid — the critical window pinned down, so a shaky alibi has nowhere to sit
• Red-Herring Watch & The Motive Map — the fishy things, judged later; the connections web you draw yourself
• My Sealed Prediction & The Reveal Debrief — verdict sealed before the final act; caught / missed / misread; your Detective Score; the book's fairness verdict
• The Fair-Play Honour Roll · The Ones That Beat Me · My Year in Cases · Notes & Loose Threads

The Fair-Play Pact — how it works

1. Log clues as you meet them. Chapter noted, ink dry — no quietly improving your ledger after the reveal; a clue you misread stays misread, because the misreading is the record that teaches. 2. Seal your prediction before the final act. Before the last three chapters, or before the sleuth starts gathering people into rooms — whichever comes first. Write it, date it, close the page. 3. Score yourself honestly. The Detective Score is the whole law: 4 points for naming the culprit, 2 for the method, 2 for the motive, 1 for spotting the key clue, 1 for refusing the biggest red herring. Nobody audits this log but you — which is exactly why it works. 4. Judge the book's fairness separately. Being beaten by a fair book is one of reading's great pleasures; being beaten by evidence the author withheld is a foul. This log records which one happened. 5. Misses are data. A missed clue is not a failure; it is the page future-you will read with the most delight.

Open a case in five minutes on the book's first page, work the board and ledger in two minutes at each chapter break, seal before the final act, debrief after it. The Pact is page 3 of the log itself, and it is printed in full in the free sample.

Formats & files

Printable PDF in US Letter and A4, plus a tablet edition for GoodNotes/Notability-style apps — all three in the one purchase. Print at home or at a copy shop; the six case-file pages are designed to be reprinted (print) or duplicated (tablet) for every new book under the Personal Use license, so the log never fills up. The prediction page seals by folding on paper, by covering on tablet. Instant download after purchase.

Audit our own cozies first

It works with any cozy on your shelf — the fields are crime-neutral, from stolen heirlooms to contested wills. But the ideal first cases are sitting in this very shop. The Saltmarsh Inheritance plants fourteen clues on the page before any of them pays off, and Taken for a Ride hides a swapped fairground horse behind seventeen. Open a case file on either one and check our fair-play promises with your own ledger, clue for clue — we are that confident, and the log's Honour Roll is where we hope to end up.

The companion the rest of the line doesn't duplicate

Our flagship Ultimate Reading Journal Bundle looks backward from the last page — reviews, ratings, monthly logs. This log works live, inside the book, and shares no pages with it. The distinction from the Series Catch-Up & Recap Journal is just as sharp: that journal works between books, rebuilding your memory of a series; this one works inside one book, while you read it, and keeps no plot recaps at all. Series readers who solve along keep both.

Who this is for

Readers who pause mid-chapter to say "wait — go back" out loud. Readers who keep a suspect list in a phone note titled 'teapot??'. Anyone who has ever been beaten by a fair book and enjoyed it, or beaten by an unfair one and wanted a form to file the complaint on. And if you read cozies purely to be carried — honestly, you do not need a ledger, and we would rather tell you that here than sell you 44 pages you will not use.

Free sample

Three real pages form a genuinely usable mini case file: The Fair-Play Pact (log p.3 — the five rules and the full Detective Score rubric), Case Opened (open a real case on any cozy tonight), and The Clue Ledger (the signature page — the fair-play reader's core tool). Pact, open case, working ledger: enough to start detecting in tonight's chapter.

Get the free sample

The Cozy Mystery Clue & Suspect Log

$7 launch price

44 pages. License: Personal Use — print/copy for your own reading life, as many times as you need. Sharing the files or reselling is not permitted; see Licensing.

FAQ

Can I buy it today?

Yes — checkout is open now. Pagelyra sells through Gumroad: tap Buy on this page, pay securely on Gumroad, and your files are ready to download straight after payment. The free sample on this page stays free either way, and every purchase is covered by our Refund Policy.

Which books can I use it with — just Pagelyra's?

Any cozy mystery at all: the Case Opened page is deliberately crime-neutral, so it fits thefts, disappearances, forgeries, contested wills and — in other authors' villages — the occasional body. That said, the natural first cases are our own: The Saltmarsh Inheritance was built fair-play with fourteen planted clues, and Taken for a Ride (a cozy with no murder at all) runs on seventeen. Log either one and you can audit our clue map against your ledger, clue for clue.

How many books does it hold?

Five complete six-page case files are printed in the log, and those six pages are designed to be reprinted (print) or duplicated (tablet) for every book after that — your fiftieth case gets the same full board, ledger and sealed prediction as your first.

Isn't this just a reading journal with a magnifying glass on it?

No — reviews look backward from the last page; this log works live, inside the book: clues entered as you meet them (no editing after the reveal — that's the Pact), a prediction sealed before the final act, and the fairness of the book itself put on trial at the debrief. It shares no pages with our other journals; the Series Catch-Up Journal is the between-books memory tool, and this is the during-the-book one.

What formats do I get?

Printable PDFs in US Letter and A4, plus a tablet edition for GoodNotes/Notability-style apps — all in the one purchase. Print at home or at a copy shop, or keep it on the tablet beside the ebook; the prediction page seals by folding (paper) or covering (tablet).