Valley Mysteries

Somebody in Pelican Town did it.

Valley Mysteries turns your town into a small-town whodunit. Someone paints a mustache on Pierre's sign or leaves Marnie's gate open, and Lewis asks you to find out who. Question the villagers, check their alibis, find the clue at the scene, then confront the culprit and decide what happens to them.

An add-on for The Living Valley. Version 1.1.3 or later required.

A case, start to finish

It might go like this. You open the mailbox to a letter from Lewis: last night someone painted a big curly mustache on the sign outside Pierre's shop, and Pierre is fuming. Three villagers had a reason. Shane says he was at the Saloon all evening. Abigail says she was home. Haley says she was at the beach.

You ask around. Caroline backs up Abigail. Emily, who was working the Saloon that night, frowns: Shane never came in. The next morning Pierre writes that he found something odd under the sign, and it's a slice of pizza. You write it down in your casebook: it was Shane, he said he was at the Saloon, but Emily was there and never saw him, and he loves pizza. Then you find him outside his door and put it to him.

He owns up. Now it's your call: tell Lewis and let the town know, or keep it between the two of you and help him make it right with Pierre.

Every case really happened

At 8 PM the mod notes where every villager actually is. The next morning a case is built from that: the incident is at a spot nobody was near, the suspects are villagers you've met who have a reason to be annoyed with the victim, the innocent ones were really where they say, and the culprit claims a place where other villagers were, so those villagers can say they never saw them.

The AI gives the villagers their voices, through The Living Valley's chat, so they answer your questions like themselves. Your notes come from what really happened, so a case always adds up, whatever the AI says. No AI connected? Villagers answer from scripted lines and every case still works.

What you do

• Ask around. Talk to the villagers who are where you are: where were they at 8 PM, did they see anyone, what do they think. Their answers appear in the game's dialogue box with their portrait, and your notebook keeps what they said.
• Check alibis. The 8 PM board shows where everyone was, from what you've been told. A solid frame means someone saw them there. A dashed one means you only have their word. A cross means someone says they weren't.
• Find the clue. The morning after a case opens, the victim finds something left at the scene: a thing the culprit loves. If you know your villagers' gift tastes, you can narrow it down.
• Watch for false leads. Lewis passes on gossip about who was seen near the spot. Ask the person who said it how sure they are.
• Bring a partner. Your spouse or a close friend can help. Once a day they share a hunch about what to check next. They'll never just name the culprit.
• Write your theory. Fill in the blanks from words in your notes: who did it, where they said they were, who was there instead, and what they love. Checking tells you how many words don't fit, never which ones.
• Confront them. Face to face, with the suspect in front of you. Get it right and they confess, with a reason of their own. Get it wrong and you've hurt someone's feelings.

Then you decide

• Tell Lewis. The town hears about it, the victim is grateful and Lewis's letter brings a thank-you gift from them.
• Keep it quiet. The culprit is grateful, and asks you to take the victim something they like as an apology. Hand it over and the two of them make up.

Villagers remember how it went, and so does The Living Valley's town memory.

The casebook

A leather notebook with five ribbon tabs, drawn in pixel art to sit right next to the game's own menus.

• Case: what happened, the victim, days left, the rumor on a sticky note and a checklist of leads that ticks itself.
• People: the suspects, what they claim and an "Alibi checks out" stamp once someone confirms it.
• Clues: what you've found. Show a clue to whoever is nearby.
• 8 PM: where everyone was that night.
• Solve: your theory, one blank at a time.

Something stranger is going on

Not every prank in town is just a prank. Now and then a case leaves behind a note covered in tiny star doodles, with one line of a riddle on it. Collect enough of them in a season and someone will want to meet you, after dark.

That's all we'll say.

Requirements

• Stardew Valley 1.6
• SMAPI 4.0 or later
• The Living Valley 1.1.3 or later
• Recommended: an AI provider connected in The Living Valley (Player2 with web sign-in, OpenRouter, or a local LLM)

Install

• Install The Living Valley 1.1.3 or later.
• Unzip Valley Mysteries into your Stardew Valley/Mods folder.
• Launch the game through SMAPI and load your farm. Lewis writes to you the first morning. On an existing farm the first case usually arrives the next day; on a new one, after your first week.
• Press N, or click the casebook button next to the Living Valley button, to open your casebook.

Settings
In the Living Valley menu under Settings > Valley Mysteries:

• Casebook key (default N)
• Days between cases (default 7)
• Questions per villager per day (default 3; each one is an AI chat message)

Good to know

• Pace: one case at a time. You have 7 days to solve it before it goes cold, and the next one comes a week after.
• Who's involved: villagers you've met. Lewis and the children are never suspects.
• AI use: each question is one chat message through The Living Valley. Answers, letters and confessions have scripted versions for when no AI is connected.
• Multiplayer: the host keeps the casebook. Farmhands can't open it yet.
• Languages: English. The AI answers in your game language. Translations are welcome: copy i18n/default.json.
• Uninstalling: safe. Valley Mysteries keeps its data in your save and doesn't change vanilla files or dialogue.

Credits
Made by mariachaaan. Built on The Living Valley.