Clear Lake '87

A Hints & Hijinx mystery game

It's late August, and Clear Lake feels like a postcard left too long in the sun—colors faded, edges curled. The resort town that was supposed to be the jewel of the region never quite made it. Now it limps along on nostalgia and the handful of families who return each summer out of habit more than joy.

You're a freelance journalist who came to Clear Lake chasing a human interest story: "Small Town Survives the Rust Belt Blues" or something equally forgettable. You checked into the Clear Lake Lodge three days ago, charmed by its retro aesthetic and melancholic atmosphere.

Then, this morning, Thomas Crowley—a middle-aged businessman from Chicago—was found dead in the indoor pool. Drowned, they say. But the way the sheriff's deputy averted his eyes when he said it, the whispers in the lodge's dining room, the way the manager keeps wringing his hands... something doesn't add up.

The sheriff is treating it as an accident. The lodge wants it handled quietly. But you're a journalist. You ask questions. You notice things.

What really happened to Thomas Crowley?