For internal review
Greenville, NC
CLOSING
TIME.
After last seating on a Friday night, a regular at the corner booth doesn't make it home. The five people still in the building are the only ones it could be.
A noir mystery, hosted on Instagram, solved by your audience.
A three-post mystery on Ford & Shep's Instagram, narrated by a charismatic fictional detective named Steven Sleuth. Players follow the case through an announcement, an evidence carousel, and a final reveal. To solve it, they have to share the carousel and tag three friends. That unlocks the surveillance archive on a secret companion account called @happyhunting.tv.
The mystery is real. The detective is a personality. The restaurant is the world. Players don't just watch, they investigate, theorize in the comments, share for the unlock, and come back for the reveal.
The format is built to be a repeatable Catch property. Detective Steven Sleuth takes a new case for a new business each time. Ford & Shep is File 001.
Three posts, one secret account, one share-gated unlock.
Detective Steven Sleuth.
A fictional, slightly absurd, fully committed detective in a trench coat and fedora. Played by a charismatic on-camera personality already partnered with the project. He's the warm front door to a serious mystery.
Trench coat / Fedora
Magnifying glass
Notepad
The face of the case.
Steven opens the announcement in full costume, addresses the camera directly, and asks the audience to help him solve a death at Ford & Shep. He posts the carousel as "the case file." He drops the share-gated archive on @happyhunting.tv "for those of you who earned it." He returns for the reveal video, walks through the evidence with theatrical flair, names the killer, and announces the winner.
Between posts, Steven plays in the comments. Responds to theories by name. Pretend-investigates the funniest guesses. The character is the engagement engine.
For future installments, every Catch mystery for a different business is "Detective Steven Sleuth takes a new case." The IP is yours.
The story.
It is a Friday night at Ford & Shep. The doors lock at 11:00pm after last seating. By 11:55pm, a regular is found dead, face-down in the doorway between the corridor and the bathroom. The five people still in the building are the only ones who could have done it.
A regular. Always the corner booth.
A powerful figure in his industry. The kind of man who has quiet enemies. He has eaten alone at Ford & Shep every Friday at 9pm for two years. Same booth. Same drink to start.
His tree nut allergy is logged in the reservation system. Every staff member was briefed when he became a regular.
His booth was given away that night.
When he arrived, the new hostess apologized. She had logged a reservation for the corner booth earlier in the week and forgotten to flag the conflict. He was visibly annoyed. She re-seated him at a smaller table near the back, out of the line of sight from most of the dining room.
Whoever made that conflicting reservation booked it under a name no one can identify.
Note: the victim's identity stays generic in this document. We can tailor the details once we know whether a real Ford & Shep regular is willing to play the part. The puzzle works either way.
Everyone has a motive. Everyone has an alibi.
Each suspect gets one motive line and one alibi on the carousel. Roles only for now. We layer in personality once we know who from your staff is willing to play themselves and who we cast from outside.
The bartender called in sick. And then she snuck in anyway.
She left a voicemail for ownership that morning saying she couldn't make it in. She wasn't supposed to be in the building. Two staff members saw her come through the back at 11:30pm. She left at 11:50pm with a bag.
The surface read: she's faking the illness for an alibi, she's the killer, the bag held the weapon. Comments will pile on her. She is the obvious suspect. We want this.
The truth: she has been quietly stealing high-end bottles from the bar inventory for months. She came in that night specifically because she knew the place would be understaffed and no one would notice her grab a $400 bottle. Bad timing. She left with the bottle in her bag, completely unaware that a man was dying twenty feet away.
She is guilty. Of theft. Not of murder.
The argument everyone saw.
A second patron was at Ford & Shep that night. Earlier in the evening, multiple staff members watched a heated argument break out between Table 4 and the victim. The victim was visibly shaken. Voices were raised. Threats were made.
Table 4 paid their check at 11:42pm and walked out the front door. The receipt timestamp is on the carousel.
The surface read: obvious motive, obvious opportunity, suspicious exit. Players will hammer on Table 4 in the comments. The voicemail in the carousel makes it worse — earlier that day, Table 4 left a threatening message on the victim's phone.
Did Table 4 leave and come back? Did they double back through the kitchen? Were they hiding in the bathroom waiting?
The truth: they were gone. Cleared by surveillance footage on @happyhunting.tv. They wanted the victim to suffer. Someone else did the work.
Five obvious choices. One unspoken truth.
Five everyday restaurant items players can pick from on the carousel. The sixth weapon is hidden behind the share gate. Players who only watch the carousel almost certainly guess wrong. Players who share unlock the truth.
The most important slide.
A redacted preliminary report appears in the carousel. To a casual reader it looks like the victim was strangled and clubbed in a struggle. Every finding has an innocent explanation. The report is honest. It is also designed to mislead.
Preliminary Report
- Subject
- █████████████████████
- Time of Death
- 11:55 PM (Approx.)
- Location
- 718 Dickinson Ave. Found face-down in the threshold between the corridor and the restroom.
- Investigating
- Det. S. Sleuth
- Significant facial edema, lips and tongue
- Ligature-pattern contusion, anterior neck
- Blunt force trauma, right temporal region
- Trace blood and tissue, edge of restroom sink
- No defensive wounds present
- Personal effects: █████████████
Casual viewers split between twine (matches the ligature) and frying pan (matches the trauma). Both are wrong. The smart play is to wonder why the report shows two different methods at two different locations, and conclude something else is going on.
For your eyes only.
This is the actual answer. Internal only. Not visible to players until the reveal video.
The Killer Is The Hostess. The Weapon Is A Cake.
three weeks on the job
almond flour + marzipan
followed by a fall
The hostess took the job at Ford & Shep three weeks ago specifically because she knew the victim dined there every Friday. Years ago, he wronged her family in a way that defined the rest of her life. He doesn't remember her. She has spent every day since deciding what to do about it. Three weeks ago she made her move.
She kept her head down on the job. Quiet. Polite. Forgettable. Specifically, never mentioned.
The SetupEarlier that week, she called the restaurant on her own phone, posed as a stranger, and booked the corner booth for the same Friday night the victim always took it. She logged the conflicting reservation in her own handwriting under a name no one would recognize. To everyone else it looked like a scheduling oversight by the new hire.
When the victim arrived, she apologized. The booth was already held. Could she seat him at a smaller table in the back? He was annoyed but agreed. The new table sat outside the line of sight from most of the dining room. Exactly where she wanted him.
The KillShe baked the cake at home that afternoon. It looks like a flourless chocolate torte. Almond flour throughout. A marzipan center. Both invisible. She brought it from her car at the start of service and kept it in a Tupperware container under the host stand.
After the victim's entree, she walked the cake to his table herself. A handwritten note went with it: "Compliments of the chef. Sorry about the booth mix-up tonight. Enjoy." The chef knew nothing about it. The victim trusted her. He ate it.
Within minutes the reaction started. His tongue began to swell. Throat closing. He felt sick and excused himself toward the restroom. He intended to splash water on his face and figure out what was happening. He clawed at his own collar trying to breathe (the source of the "ligature contusion" in the report, self-inflicted). By the time he reached the sink, he was disoriented. He braced himself. He missed. His right temple struck the corner of the sink on the way down (the "blunt force trauma" in the report).
He fell forward, half in the bathroom and half in the corridor. He was found face-down in the doorway minutes later by a staff member.
How Players Land On HerFour other suspects get cleared by surveillance footage on @happyhunting.tv. The hostess has no camera on the host stand and no alibi. The Tupperware sits in the host stand cabinet (Sleuth photographs it and asks "why is this here?"). A grocery receipt from her purse, dated that morning, has almond flour and marzipan circled among ordinary items. The reservation slip and the compliments note share a handwriting tell. The historical clipping reveals her surname matches the victim's old business dealings. She is the only person it can be.
The case opens.
a death at
Ford & Shep."
The case opens. Stay close.
30-second teaser. Steven introduces the case.
- Cold open: black and white shot of the empty dining room. Slow push toward the bathroom doorway.
- A single warm light spills from the corridor. A tipped chair near a back table. A half-finished plate.
- Cut to Steven Sleuth in full costume in the blue hallway, addressing camera.
- He sets the case in two or three sentences and asks for help.
- End card: THE CASE OPENS. Date and time the carousel drops.
"Dickinson Avenue. Eleven fifty-five on a Friday. The lights were still on at Ford and Shep. Five people in the building. One of them did this. I don't know which one yet. That's where you come in."
Camera holds on his face. He raises a magnifying glass to the lens. Cut to title card.
The case file.
Fourteen carousel slides. Players swipe through evidence, suspects, weapons, and a CTA to share for the unlock. The whole game lives here.
Carousel drifts to 16 slides as drafted. Final count flexes during production.
Detective Interview Notes
One of the more important slides. The detective transcribed quotes from each suspect about the argument earlier in the night. Look for the one quote that doesn't match the others.
The unlock that drives engagement.
Players can guess from the carousel alone, but they will almost certainly pick the wrong weapon and the wrong suspect. The surveillance archive lives behind a single share-and-tag action.
@happyhunting.tv
A separate Instagram account stood up the day of the announcement. Designed as Detective Sleuth's surveillance archive. All security footage and physical evidence lives here. Players who share the carousel and tag three friends are auto-DM'd a message from Steven directing them to the account.
What sharers unlock at launch:
01. Back-door security loop. Reflection puts the chef outside on his smoke break, on the phone, exactly when he claimed.
02. Wife's call log. 24-minute outgoing call ending 11:55. Chef cleared on two fronts.
03. Bartender bag-cam. She sneaks in at 11:30, leaves with a specific bottle in her bag at 11:50.
04. Bar inventory log. Three matching bottles missing over three months. Reveals theft, clears her of murder.
05. Kitchen security still. Server at silverware station, 11:48, tray count visible. Cleared.
06. Ring footage. Table 4 walking past at 11:43, on the phone, getting in his car. Cleared.
07. No camera at the host stand. Sleuth's note: "No alibi for the hostess between 11:40 and 11:55."
08. The Tupperware. Found in the host stand cabinet. Sleuth's note: "Why is this here?"
09. The receipt. Local grocery store, that morning. Almond flour and marzipan circled in red, surrounded by milk, eggs, bananas, paper towels, dish soap.
Designed hard on purpose.
Past Happy Hunting puzzles have always solved faster than expected. This time, the game is built to be solvable but difficult, with three pieces of evidence held back as releasable "levers." Steven drops them as the game progresses if engagement plateaus.
The philosophy: it is much easier to release a clue than to take one back. We aim high on difficulty, then meter the levers based on real-time engagement. Each lever release is itself a content beat — a "case update" from Detective Sleuth that re-engages everyone who fell off.
Kitchen Inventory
Drops a photo of the kitchen prep list and walk-in. No almond flour. No marzipan. No cake of any kind in the building. Sleuth's note: "Where did the cake come from? Not from this kitchen."
Handwriting Match
Drops Sleuth's notebook page with the reservation slip and the compliments note taped side by side, matching letterforms circled in red.
The Surname Match
A grainy newspaper clipping. "[Surname] Family Business Closes After 40 Years." The closure followed a forced buyout by the victim's company. The hostess's surname matches.
The Release Schedule
Announcement video drops
Steven introduces the case. Hype builds. No evidence yet.
Carousel + initial @happyhunting.tv archive
Share gate opens. Players begin to solve. Steven plays heavily in the comments.
Lever 01 released if needed — kitchen inventory
"I went back to the kitchen this morning. Something interesting." Re-engagement post.
Lever 02 released if needed — handwriting
"Take another look at slide 3 and slide 12. Tell me what you see."
Lever 03 released if needed — surname clipping
"I dug into her file. Look at the last name."
Reveal video. Winner announced.
Case closed.
Case closed.
who did it."
60 to 90-second reveal. Steven walks back through the evidence.
- Eliminate the knife and the ice pick (no stab wounds in the report).
- Build the case for twine and the frying pan, then dismantle both by re-reading the report as anaphylaxis.
- Reveal the cake. Show the receipt and the Tupperware.
- Walk through the hostess's three-week setup. Reveal the surname match.
- Reveal the bartender's actual secret (theft). Comedic relief beat.
- Steven names the killer, names the weapon, announces the winner.
Steven sits at the small back table where the victim was re-seated. The lights are on. The plate is gone.
"It wasn't the knife. It wasn't the pick. It wasn't even the bartender, though God knows she had reasons. The thing that killed our man was sitting on the table the whole time. Brought to him by the one person nobody suspected. The cake. The hostess. The end."
He closes his notepad. Tips his hat to the camera. Cigarette smoke drifts across the lens.
Every table gets the case.
Throughout the game window, every table at Ford & Shep gets the same printed guest check, taped to the tabletop. A QR code on the check links straight to the carousel post on Instagram. The line that gives in-person diners an edge: "the victim takes the cake."
Diners ask their server about it. They photograph it. They post it. Foot traffic, dwell time, and UGC all spike. The line itself confirms the cake as the murder weapon — information that online players have to deduce.
Insider Information.
The check is identical at every table during the game window. F&S regulars and walk-ins discover the mystery in person. Photographs of the check on Instagram act as organic, off-channel marketing for the carousel post.
This is recommended for every Catch mystery going forward. A piece of the puzzle that lives at the business itself, free for visitors to find. Not required to solve the case. Just rewarding for the people who show up.
The asks.
The puzzle is built. Production is built around what is already at the restaurant. These are the green-lights and access we need to pull it off.
Access for two evening shoots
Ideally on closed days or after-hours. We shoot the announcement, the carousel evidence, the reveal, and any necessary suspect footage in two evenings total. Catch handles all production.
Suspect casting from your staff
Five suspect roles. Staff who are willing play themselves. Roles where staff aren't interested get cast from outside. The puzzle structure works either way.
Optional: a real regular as the victim
If you have a regular who would be game to play it, the buy-in is significant and the storytelling lands harder. If not, we art-direct around an absence. Both work.
Use of the bathroom doorway and corridor
Photographed at low angle, dim lighting, the suggestion of a body half in, half out. No mess. The blue hallway is the most iconic visual moment Ford & Shep has and we want to use it.
QR-code guest check on every table
During the game window. We design and print. Staff places them. Diners get insider access to the case while sitting in the restaurant where it happened.
Sign-off on the prize
To be discussed. Should be significant. A private dinner, a chef's table experience, a "restaurant closed for you and your friends" night. The prize sets the gravity of the game and the appetite for shares.
Two to three weeks from green-light to launch.
Lock the cast. Lock the prize. Final scripts.
Confirm which staff are playing themselves. Lock the victim. Source props. Scripts polished and approved.
Two evenings of production. Edit. Build @happyhunting.tv.
Shoot all video and photo. Edit the announcement, carousel assets, voicemail, and reveal. Stand up the secret account and seed the surveillance archive.
Launch. 7-day game window.
Day 0 announcement. Day 2 carousel + share gate. Levers metered as needed. Day 7 reveal and winner.
Ford & Shep is File 001.
This is built to be a repeatable Catch property. Detective Steven Sleuth takes a new case for a new business each time. Same character. Same look. New victim. New restaurant or bar or shop. New audience watching to see who he hangs the next murder on.
Future installments inherit the audience, the format, and the engagement equity. Each new business doesn't just buy a one-off social campaign. They buy a slot in an ongoing series with a built-in following.
Ford & Shep gets the first one because Ford & Shep has the right room for it: a winding blue hallway, a chef with real pedigree, an eclectic kitchen, and the kind of dinner-and-drinks atmosphere that makes a noir mystery feel inevitable.