The Harbor Master's Ledger: reader's desk
You have the ledger. Welcome, my dear colleague.
This page is for readers of The Harbor Master's Ledger. Everything here is safe to read before you finish the case, except the sealed file at the bottom, which stays locked until you have solved it.
Before you start: the people · the places · the map of Porthgrey · Lantern Night
Printable: the map of Porthgrey as a full-page PDF, and a district tracker to keep your count as you work.
While you wait for the kettle: a short case from Hale's past.
Map of Porthgrey
Westcut. Newer houses beyond the railway cutting. Newcomers, mostly, and newcomers notice things.St. Brannoc's. The church, the school and the only tea room in Porthgrey that stays open past six.Lamplight Hill. Villas with a view of the bay, and residents who prefer the view to the neighbors.Old Town. Crooked cottages and narrower gossip. Everybody here knew Silas Penhallow, and most had an opinion.Mill End. The old tide mill, the brewery and the terraces of the men who work them.The Narrows. Alleys so tight two people cannot pass without one of them stepping into a doorway.Kingsgate. The market square, the bank and the Anchor Hotel, where the visitors sleep.Harborside. Net lofts, fish cellars and the Customs House. The smell of tar never quite leaves your coat.Quay Row. Boatyards and chandlers. Anyone who owns a boat has business here sooner or later.The Anchor Hotel. The only proper hotel in Porthgrey, on the market square in Kingsgate, run in 1953 by Mrs.The Saltings. Marsh cottages at the edge of town, reached by a causeway that floods at high tide.The Customs House. A Georgian building of grey granite on the Harborside quay, with an outside stair of fourteen stone steps rising to the upper door.A small lantern flickers on the Customs House stairs. "His lantern was still burning."
The sealed file
When you have solved the case, the book gives you a three-figure code. Enter it here to open Hale's full debrief: the whole story of that night, what became of everyone, and the things the book could not tell you.
Wrong codes open nothing, and nothing is revealed by trying.