Murder mystery for Christmas | Share My Lesson - Free Printable

Let’s solve this step by step. We need to find out who spent the most money (the murderer) and who spent the least (the victim). To do that, we’ll calculate how much each character spent total.

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Santa:

He bought gifts for:
- Wife → 1 gift
- 5 nieces → 5 gifts
- 4 nephews → 4 gifts
Total = 1 + 5 + 4 = 10 gifts

Average per gift = $8.10
So total spent = 10 × $8.10 = $81.00

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Elf:

Bought 4 presents.
Cheapest = $15.50
Each next one increases by $4.50

So:
- Gift 1: $15.50
- Gift 2: $15.50 + $4.50 = $20.00
- Gift 3: $20.00 + $4.50 = $24.50
- Gift 4: $24.50 + $4.50 = $29.00

Total = 15.50 + 20.00 + 24.50 + 29.00
= (15.50 + 29.00) + (20.00 + 24.50)
= 44.50 + 44.50 = $89.00

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Snowman:

Average spend was $2.60 less than Santa’s average.
Santa’s average = $8.10 → Snowman’s average = 8.10 - 2.60 = $5.50

He bought 15 gifts.
Total = 15 × $5.50 = $82.50

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Fairy:

One gift cost same as Elf’s most expensive → that’s $29.00 (from above)

Her other 4 gifts had an average of $13.25
So those 4 cost: 4 × $13.25 = $53.00

Total = $29.00 + $53.00 = $82.00

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Reindeer:

Bought gifts for 8 other reindeer → so 8 gifts total.

Shop offer: “Buy 3 get 1 free” → means for every 4 items, you pay for only 3.

How many sets of 4 in 8? → 8 ÷ 4 = 2 sets → so he pays for 3 × 2 = 6 items

Usual price per item = $12.50
So total paid = 6 × $12.50 = $75.00

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Angel:

Most expensive gift = same as Elf’s cheapest = $15.50

Other 6 got progressively cheaper by $1.10 each.

So let’s list them from most expensive down:

Gift 1 (most expensive): $15.50
Gift 2: 15.50 - 1.10 = $14.40
Gift 3: 14.40 - 1.10 = $13.30
Gift 4: 13.30 - 1.10 = $12.20
Gift 5: 12.20 - 1.10 = $11.10
Gift 6: 11.10 - 1.10 = $10.00
Gift 7: 10.00 - 1.10 = $8.90 ← Wait! That’s 7 gifts total? But Angel says “my most expensive gift... the other 6...” → so total 7 gifts.

Wait — let me re-read:

> “My most expensive gift cost the same as the elf’s cheapest gift. The other 6 got progressively cheaper by $1.10 each.”

So yes — 1 (most expensive) + 6 others = 7 gifts total

So prices:

1. $15.50
2. $14.40
3. $13.30
4. $12.20
5. $11.10
6. $10.00
7. $8.90

Now add them up:

We can pair them:

(15.50 + 8.90) = 24.40
(14.40 + 10.00) = 24.40
(13.30 + 11.10) = 24.40
Left with middle one: $12.20

Total = 24.40 × 3 + 12.20 = 73.20 + 12.20 = $85.40

Wait — let me double-check addition:

15.50
+14.40 = 29.90
+13.30 = 43.20
+12.20 = 55.40
+11.10 = 66.50
+10.00 = 76.50
+8.90 = 85.40 → Yes, correct.

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Now let’s summarize all totals:

- Santa: $81.00
- Elf: $89.00
- Snowman: $82.50
- Fairy: $82.00
- Reindeer: $75.00
- Angel: $85.40

Now sort them:

Highest → Lowest:

1. Elf: $89.00 ← MURDERER (spent most)
2. Angel: $85.40
3. Snowman: $82.50
4. Fairy: $82.00
5. Santa: $81.00
6. Reindeer: $75.00 ← VICTIM (spent least)

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Final Answer:
Murderer: Elf
Victim: Reindeer