About

About the Dahl Files

The Dahl Files are printable cold-case mysteries set in Vesper Lake, a small town in Minnesota, in the 1970s and ’80s. Each case is a folder of exhibits you solve at the kitchen table.

The story behind the cases

Sheriff Ray Dahl ran Ostrander County for 23 years and wrote every case note in pencil. Long after he died, four boxes of his files turned up on the Vesper Lake Historical Society’s back step with a card on top, in green ink: “I got some of these wrong.” Wren Lindahl, the society’s volunteer archivist, is working through them one folder at a time.

None of it is real. Sheriff Dahl, Wren, Vesper Lake and Ostrander County are fictional, and any resemblance to real people is coincidental. Wren speaks only inside the story.

How the cases are made

• Written with AI. The stories, characters, exhibits and puzzles are written with the help of AI.
• Logic-checked by script. Every clue is checked by a script to make sure exactly one suspect fits all the evidence. No trick questions, and no outside knowledge needed.

We tell you this up front because you should know what you’re buying. What we promise is a fair puzzle with a single solution, and a good hour at the table.

What we don’t do

No fake reviews, no countdown timers that reset, and no “sale” that doesn’t end when we say it does. If a date is on this site, it’s real.

Get in touch

Questions, a file that won’t open, or just your theory about the green ink: email[email protected]. We read every message.