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Inspector Rottman is investigating the murder of a young clergy assistant in the quiet village of Roeville.

Having already done some detective work, he has the following three main suspects:

  1. Trevor Matthews, the vicar.
  2. Benedict Leith, the organist.
  3. Lionel Richardson, the choirmaster.

The Inspector is struggling to identify the culprit until he receives the following tip-off:

The altar boy behind the church.
The crows they flit from perch to perch.
Monday yes but Tuesday no,
Weds I stay but Thurs I go.
I’m in Friday, Saturday out.
Sunday’s odd so I say nowt.
Every other second counts,
The alter-ego presence mounts.
From black to white to black to white
Altruism wins the fight.
Solve this puzzle then you can,
Change your way to find your man.


"0153"

Who is the murderer and how do you know (provide full explanations for each clue)?

Hint #1:

The rhyme will get you half way there, but the numbers are what will really reveal the secret.

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    $\begingroup$ Are the suspects' names going to be important, or is that just extra detail? $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    Commented Nov 24, 2014 at 10:50
  • $\begingroup$ The puzzle will reveal the suspect's name. $\endgroup$
    – Ste
    Commented Nov 24, 2014 at 11:03
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    $\begingroup$ A very tight riddle. The clues are exact and the riddle and rhymes are precise. I like that both the meaning and text of the riddle answer are clued, each in multiple ways. When reading the right answer, I had no doubt that it was correct. The way the riddle answers points out the murdered is also cute. My one complaint is that the whole "victim writes riddle to point out murderer" frame theme is both cliche and artificial, so I think an original premise would have served you better. $\endgroup$
    – xnor
    Commented Dec 7, 2014 at 23:50

1 Answer 1

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The answer is ...

Trevor Matthews

This is because...

The entire poem is a reference to the word "Alt"

The altar boy behind the church.

ALTar boy

The crows they flit from perch to perch.

"Perch to perch" means they are ALTernating their perches.

Monday yes but Tuesday no,
Weds I stay but Thurs I go.
I’m in Friday, Saturday out.
Sunday’s odd so I say nowt.

Yes then no, stay then go, in then out. All forms of ALTernation.

Every other second counts,

Self-explanatory.

The alter-ego presence mounts.

ALTer-ego

From black to white to black to white

ALTernating yet again, this time with colors.

Altruism wins the fight.

ALTruism

Solve this puzzle then you can,
Change your way to find your man.

Refering to using the ALT key to "change your way"

Putting the poem clue together with "0153"...

Alt+0153 is the keyboard shortcut for the Trademark symbol that looks like "TM", ™. This references the initials of the murderer, Trevor Matthews. Incidentally he is also the suspect that would spend the most time on the ALTar.

BELOW IS MY PREVIOUS ANSWER PURELY FOR REFERENCE:

This is not a complete answer since I do not know how to make all the clues fit. But here is what I have so far.

Benedict Leith, the organist, is the murderer.

Every other second counts,

Could be a reference of timing in music. This could also apply to the choirmaster...

From black to white to black to white

Keys on an organ are like those of a piano, black and white. This is what made me think about this at first.

"0153"

These look like the parts of the major chord except the 0. The root (1), third (3), fifth (5).

Honestly, I am still trying to work out what the days mean but maybe this will spark some ideas for others.

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  • $\begingroup$ This is what I thought too. I'd say the days are referring to the tones and semi-tones of a scale or maybe a chord $\endgroup$
    – d'alar'cop
    Commented Nov 21, 2014 at 15:40
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    $\begingroup$ Yeah, it all fits the "alternating" theme throughout. "Altar", "alter-ego", alternating days, alternating black/white, alternating inclusion in chords. $\endgroup$
    – Leo
    Commented Nov 21, 2014 at 15:43
  • $\begingroup$ Try to make it fit... I'm not sure about 0153... $\endgroup$
    – d'alar'cop
    Commented Nov 21, 2014 at 15:44
  • $\begingroup$ The only other explanation I can think of is that this whole thing is just a reference to the word "altar" which would point to the vicar... This seems kinda loose for me though. $\endgroup$
    – Leo
    Commented Nov 21, 2014 at 15:56
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    $\begingroup$ "The crows they flit from perch to perch" could mean hands darting across sets of keys. $\endgroup$
    – generalcrispy
    Commented Nov 21, 2014 at 17:54

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