The Case of the Conflicted Courtship is the second Dreadful Crimes case: a young woman, Prudence Browne, has been stabbed to death in a park in the City of London. Her diary, a doctor's medicine packet and some handwriting clues lead you around the homes and office of the men in her life.
Part 2 of 10 in The Dreadful Crimes
The body shows a frenzied attack by a left-handed person. Prudence carried a packet of powder stamped with Dr Trevor Alton's name, and her appointment book lists a morning meeting with Trevor in the park and a noon visit to Gilbert. Notes in the doctor's office are written by a right-handed man, while scattered papers elsewhere come from both left and right hands.
Dr Alton says he was about to propose and had no meeting arranged. His patient Shelby is angry his miracle prescription was stopped. The assistant Knight says a patient called Baxter never visits the office and collects his medicine at noon. Gilbert believes he is engaged to Prudence and fears she is about to end it. Lulu, a jealous woman, says she saw Prudence kissing her man, Baxter.
Dr Alton tested his own experimental drug and it created a second, violent personality called Baxter. Prudence fell for Baxter thinking he was Alton; when Alton decided to marry her to protect her name, Baxter arranged to meet her in the park and killed her.
Dr Alton has a fresh cut on his cheek, which he puts down to an over-excited patient, and his assistant Miss Knight has left him a note hoping for a closer rapport. Prudence's diary describes a sudden, passionate meeting in the park and her plan to break off her engagement to Gilbert.
The Most Hated Man in London
The Most Hated Man in London is the seventh Dreadful Crimes case: the business owner John Ashton has been crushed by a falling crate at his construction site in the City of London, but he has other wounds too. So many people wanted him dead that you have to establish which attack actually killed him.
A Simple Matter of Murder!
A Simple Matter of Murder! is the first Dreadful Crimes case: a foreman lies stabbed in a Whitechapel warehouse and a boy is found holding the bloody knife. Henry Raymond and young Artie introduce themselves and challenge you to solve it, and the obvious answer turns out to be wrong.
Death Stalks the Colonel
Death Stalks the Colonel is the third Dreadful Crimes case: Louis Prescott, a former army colonel who runs a munitions factory in Southwark, has been shot through the heart at noon. Several shots were fired at that moment, and you have to work out which bullet killed him.
Locked in... to Die!
Locked in... to Die! is the sixth Dreadful Crimes case: the music critic Byron Cashan is found dead in a room locked from the inside, in a lodging house in the Strand. You check each tenant's room and the basement to work out how the killer reached him.