Five O'Clock Tea
Cases unlock in order, like levels. This is case 76 of 100.
Chandmari Estate, on the slopes of Darjeeling, India, 5:45 pm. Mahendra Pradhan, 78, owner of the plantation, collapsed from his wicker chair on the veranda at 5:15 pm, ten minutes after five o'clock tea.
The village doctor speaks of a poison that stops the heart: slow pulse, vomiting, yellowed vision. At 5:30 pm a monsoon landslide closed the road to Darjeeling. No one leaves the estate until tomorrow.
Three people had access to the bungalow that afternoon. One of them put the poison in Mahendra's tea.
The study of the colonial bungalow, the ceiling fan still, monsoon rain drumming on the shutters.
Suspects
Bikram ThapaEstate manager, 56
Subir GhoshTea taster, 44
Leela PradhanMahendra's granddaughter, over from London, 26
The real case
Fake Darjeeling
India and Nepal, 2010s onward
This case is a work of fiction. The characters, names, places and events in the game do not portray real people. The account below is a factual summary, based on public sources, of the case that served as inspiration.
The 87 tea gardens of Darjeeling, on the slopes of the Indian Himalayas, produce about 7 million kilos a year. The volume sold worldwide under the Darjeeling name is estimated to be several times larger. The difference comes from tea grown across the border in Nepal, cheaper and similar, blended into the lots or sold as if it came from the region.
The name has been protected as a geographical indication since 2004, and the Indian regulator has opened investigations into brands accused of blending the product. The practice remains one of the region's biggest economic problems.
The game borrows the motive: blending cheap tea from Nepal into lots sold as Darjeeling. The poisoning, the characters and the outcome are fiction.