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.
Part 7 of 10 in The Dreadful Crimes
A doctor, Chester, finds several wounds and a puncture that would not have killed Ashton straight away. Ashton cheated his workers out of wages, paid men to wreck his rival Hendricks's machines and took a blue medicine from the pharmacist Reese every day at one o'clock. Reese's assistant Mary admits she had the apple seller give him a special apple. His wife brought him the household accounts and an invitation to a knighthood ceremony each day, and ties up her hair with a knitting needle.
Eddie and Frank from the site, Mrs Ashton, Hendricks, Reese and Mary.
Ashton's rival, an employee, his wife, his mistress and his pharmacist all tried to kill him that day by poison, gunshot, stabbing and the crate. The fatal blow came from Mrs Ashton, who was tired of his affairs.
Ashton's agenda puts him at the pharmacy at 1:00, the pub at 1:05, the apple stand at 1:09 and his household accounts at 1:10, and his broken pocket watch stopped at 1:17. The doctor's notes on how long each wound takes to kill, together with a pharmacy cabinet listing how fast each chemical acts, let you work out which attack finished him first.
The Case of the Conflicted Courtship
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.
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.