The Locked Study Murder

The Locked Study Mystery is, as you'll no doubt be unsurprised to hear, a country house mystery. It all begins when Phil Townsend, the owner of the Townsend House, receives a letter one morning saying that his wayward brother Bert is coming from Australia to see him. Bert arrives after lunch and is taken to the library, where Phil is to join him. Shortly thereafter, the servants hear loud voices followed by a shot; and when Phil's cousin Ballard, a guest at the Townsend House named Barry, and a stranger named William Smythen who had just wandered by break into the locked room, they find Bert's murdered body and Phil gone. The immediate explanation, offered by Ballard, is that Phil must have accidentally shot Bert during an argument and then ran away in a panic. But there are several details that don't quite fit into this story - which is why William and Barry decide to become Holmes and Watson and investigate the murder. Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth Sherlock Holmes