About Us

Made on the Vineyard

A small studio making cooperative mystery case files on Martha's Vineyard.

The Vineyard Files began on a visit home, around a table with the people I love most.

It was one of those rare evenings when nobody got up from the table. My parents, my brother, his fiancée, and me, the five of us with no screens and nowhere to be, caught up in a mystery, trading theories and accusations across the table, laughing late into the night. I could not remember the last time we had all been that present, in the same room, lost in the same thing.

I kept thinking about that evening afterward, about how rare it has become to gather the people you love and simply be present, unhurried, around a table. I have always loved a good mystery, the kind you solve together, piece by piece. I wanted to bring those two things together and give them a place of their own.

I moved to Martha's Vineyard eight years ago, and it has been my home away from home ever since. So this is where The Vineyard Files is set, and where each case is written, designed, and assembled by hand. Every file is a folder of original documents, an investigation drawn from the landscape, the weather, and the quiet of the island. No host, no rush. Real paper, and the people around the table.

More than anything, we hope you will gather your own people the way we did that night. Pull your family and friends around a table, open a case together, and give yourselves an evening that belongs only to you.

Inside the Workshop

How a case is made

Writing

Every case starts as a question. A place on the island, a small moment, an inconsistency we cannot let go of. We write outward from there until we know what really happened.

Designing

Every document is set by hand: police reports, witness statements, phone logs, photographs. Each one belongs to its own world and reads like it came from a desk drawer.

Assembling

Folders are printed, folded, and sealed in our studio on Martha's Vineyard. One case at a time, signed off before it gets sent out.

A mystery should be slow enough to argue about, and quiet enough to listen to.

On the Island

Rooted in a place

Our stories are fictional. The sense of place is real. The quiet streets after summer ends, the shifting weather, the coastal landscapes, the history of the island, all of it shapes the worlds we build.

If you have been to the Vineyard, you may recognise a corner. If you have not, the case will take you there.

How We Work

A short manifesto

Every document is original

No templates. Each police report, witness statement, and ferry record is written for the case it lives in.
No host, no narrator

Everything you need is in the folder. The case is between you, the documents, and whoever is at the table.
Made by hand, on the island

Written, designed, and assembled on Martha's Vineyard, one case at a time.
Meant to be sat with

Take an evening. Two evenings if you'd rather. There is no clock and no leaderboard.