In the wake of their first homicide victory, Eric and Delilah formalize Millie’s internship with their law firm, and find out that the secretive closed trial they’d just taken part in has now been leaked. On the bright side, they have a new client! A client who happens to be a notorious convicted criminal, hiring them to defend an acquaintance who’s been charged with the murder of his wealthy employer.
Lead: Delilah O’Possum
A Study in Turnabout contains the following tropes:
- Accidental Murder: Delilah comes to this conclusion during the first trial when it’s revealed that Sunny accidentally brought Lord Tigre some improperly-prepared and highly-fatal Delishafish. Kyle swiftly challenges her assumption, in part because he finds this trope boring.
- Acquired Poison Immunity: Years of substance abuse have rendered Ria totally immune to the effects of catnip. She still acts like a spaced-out ditz, though, as it helps her act Beneath Suspicion.
- Asshole Victim: Lord Tigre is a Rich Bastard who sees his live-in servants as beneath him, refuses to let one marry his daughter, has no problem firing all of them to hide this fact (which was actually to hide his own affair with their groundskeeper), and doesn’t care when both his wife and daughter naturally oppose this. It’s no wonder so many mammals were trying to murder him that day.
- Agony of the Paw: During her break-in, Ria Nepeta removed her boots outside to avoid tracking mud, leaving her paws vulnerable after knocking over a sharp figurine. While the narrative spares us the finer details of the injury, the jury's reactions imply that it's not a pretty sight.
- Bait-and-Switch: During the second trial day, Delilah insists that she has a failsafe as a last resort. When it finally comes down to using that failsafe, she notes that there's a certain someone who has been watching everything from afar and knows a lot about murders. The audience, both those in-story and experienced Ace Attorney fans, will assume Delilah is about to cross-examine the current witness's pet raven. But she actually calls their employer Lucy Sang, an infamous murderer, to testify.
- Bittersweet Ending: Delilah successfully saves Monty from a murder conviction and uncovers the truth behind Lord Tigre’s death. But “uncovering the truth” arguably causes more harm than good and earns Delilah the scorn of most of the household. On top of that, Monty is still going on trial again for attempted murder and Lady Tigre refuses to let her take the case, giving it to the same two lawyers she had to wrestle it from to begin with. The whole thing leaves her questioning Was It Really Worth It? but does turn sweet again at the end with the arrival of Delilah’s estranged father, looking to make amends.
- The Butler Did It: Subverted. The whole purpose of the case is to prove that the butler didn’t do it. Double subverted almost immediately when he confesses at the end of Part 1. Ultimately, he isn’t the killer, but not for lack of trying.
- Chekhov's Gun: Parodied with Tigre's Gun. Delilah insists that the hunting rifle on Lord Tigre's wall is a major clue, and apparently thinks this every time a gun is involved in a case. Lampshaded, as it's briefly listed in the Court Record as Chekov's Gun before Eric makes her change it. The Court Record description however continues to stealthily-update several times throughout the case as Delilah becomes increasingly insistent that it will eventually crack it wide open. It's completely irrelevant. The description on the final chapter changes to a simple "Chekhov was full of shit."
- For some more traditional examples, the Burnt Scraps and Spilled Ashtray, two pieces of evidence that are found during the initial investigation that are ultimately used to indict the real killer once their true meaning is uncovered.
- Did Not Die That Way: It's revealed shortly into the first trial that Lord Tigre didn't die from being stabbed but was actually poisoned. It takes significantly longer to figure out how exactly he was poisoned.
- Driving Question: Aside from the obvious, the question of why Lord Tigre wanted to fire his staff becomes prevalent during the first half of the case until finally being answered in Part 6.
- Did Not Think This Through: The gang goes to Ria in Part 7 to see if she has a spare gardening outfit they could borrow. She does, but it's the same size as the one she's wearing now, meaning it's way too big for any of them.Ria: "Well yeah, little dude. Why would I have one that's like half my size?"Delilah: (Sadly, she is making perfect sense.)
- Exact Words: When Lara returns to Casa Tigre in Part 7, she demands to know what the lawyers are doing investigating around her house, as she specifically told the bodyguard not to let them in. Millie counters that, since they're investigating the garden, technically they "are" outside the house. Works twofold, as they never mention that they "were" inside earlier, and just snuck past the bodyguard.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Right after Delilah explains how Ria could have entered and exited the study without tracking mud inside of it, Kyle VanDal notes that this theory would mean that she could enter and exit the study with no evidence left behind. Delilah agrees shortly before realizing that the "leaving no evidence" part puts her argument in a ticklish position.
- Foreshadowing:
- Millie’s special ability is hinted at a few times during the first investigation but she doesn’t get the chance to use it until the second.
- Likewise, Delilah’s estrangement from her family briefly comes up when she realizes how close they are to her old home, but we don’t get the story behind it until her talk with Lucy. Then her father shows up at the very end. (Even then, it’s implied this still isn’t the full story, with Delilah’s trauma around fire going unexplained.)
- When Lara is first introduced, she comes into the kitchen cheerfully calling for Humphrey, but immediately sours when she sees he’s not alone. It’s eventually revealed that the two of them are secretly engaged.
- During their talk, Lucy admits that Tooth & Claw was her first choice to defend Monty, citing their efficiency and quick results despite their unscrupulous reputation. In the denouement, Lady Tigre chooses them to defend Monty and Humphrey over B&O for that very reason.
- Meaningful Name: Aside from the Shout-Out below, the case itself involves a literal study as the crime scene. It’s also Delilah’s first homicide case and serves as a “study” of what to do (and what not to do).
- Lotsa People Try to Dun It: Nearly every member of the household ends up making an attempt on Lord Tigre. In order:
- Sunny Urshine accidentally brings Lord Tigre an improperly-prepared deadly pufferfish for lunch. This avoids killing him purely because he refuses to eat it and chucks it out the window.
- Ria Nepeta kills Lord Tigre with a Blow Gun fashioned from a lapel pin, the aforementioned pufferfish, and a customized bong, then cleans up the crime scene.
- Monty Gosland, working with Chef Humphrey, sneaks into the study on a pushcart and stabs the already-dead Lord Tigre in the back of the neck. Humphrey also poisons his wine as a backup plan, but he obviously doesn’t get around to drinking it.
- Lara Tigre steals a knitting needle from her mom and climbs down the drainpipe to the study, intending to poison it with the tossed pufferfish and kill Lord Tigre as well. She aborts this plan as soon as she sees he’s already dead, but not soon enough to avoid getting caught by an automatic camera.
- Shout-Out: To the first ever Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet. Fittingly, a reference to the great detective is dropped during the first trial.
- Secret Relationship: Chef Humphrey and Lara Tigre, which turns out to be the motive behind Lord Tigre firing his staff and, in turn, the motive for Humphrey and Lara to kill him.
- The Stoner: Ria Nepeta is a prescription catnip user, and it really shows.
- Totem Pole Trench: Done in Part 7 with all three members of Badge and O'Possum trying to maneuver around in a gardening outfit. In a twist on this trope, they're not trying to disguise themselves, but rather this is just the most practical way to get around the massive walls of thorns surrounding the house when the only outfit they have is the size of the house's gardener, a much larger cheetah.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Delilah finds the truth and saves Monty from a murder conviction, but only after accusing pretty much everyone else, revealing secrets that didn’t need to be revealed, and accidentally splitting apart the Secret Relationship in the process. Lilac chews her out for this after the fact, pointing out that her Boring, but Practical solution of getting Monty a plea deal would have caused a lot less harm in the long run
- Who Murdered the Asshole: It doesn’t take long before the Driving Question stops being “Who murdered Lord Tigre?” and becomes “Who murdered Lord Tigre first?”
