Perhaps ghosts are an Unusually Uninteresting Sight in Concordia?
Maddie and the player attend Mr. Alastor's second party of the year, which is being held in a museum while a seance is going on, to follow suspected thief Diego del Lobo and uncover what his true intentions with the elite are. However, said investigation gets put on hold when Evie informs them about the body of socialite Philomena Highmore being discovered in the museum garden, throat slashed and held in the arms of a statue.
Tropes:
- Astonishingly Appropriate Interruption: How Diego makes his appearance in this case while Maddie and the player are talking about him.Maddie: OH-HO! The oil paint set you found in this satchel bears the name Diego! Could this be-Diego: Would you kindly hand over those paints? They are very rare!
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: When you speak with Diego after discovering he forged The Virgin Mary and stole the original, it appears that Isaac is complimenting his skills, but then...Isaac: Mr del Lobo, may I say that you are a master painter! You have a sublime talent... For forgery!Diego: Why, thank you very-!
- Call-Back: Diego del Lobo reappears as a suspect, while Commissioner Baldwin also appears during the Additional Investigation to warn you about keeping investigating Alastor's parties.
- Con Man: Ignatius Cottingley is a fraud who pretends to be a psychic capable of speaking with the dead so people pay him to do seances.
- Cool Old Lady: Although kinda harsh at first, Lady Highmore is ultimately shown to be a kind woman willing to help you during the Additional Investigation by giving you indications about Mr. Alastor's next party.
- Cooperation Gambit: Diego is released from custody for stealing art after he helps the Flying Squad forge an invitation for Mr. Alastor's next party
- Crystal Ball: You find one as a clue whose fingerprints allow you to mark Ignatius as a suspect.
- Cut Lex Luthor a Check: What Isaac thinks of Diego's art and forgery skills.Isaac: Diego's copy was very close, he is not without talent... How unfortunate that he chooses to use it for dishonest work!
- Eager Rookie: George Blanton, a rookie officer from the Concordian Police Department who, despite being a beat cop, is seen to be doing (a pretty good too) detective work regarding Diego's forgery.
- Fanboy: Officer Blanton is a huge fan of Isaac, asking if you know him during the main investigation and being shown to be very eager of meeting him after the case is solved.
- Flirting Under Fire: Despite being a suspect in both a murder and forgery/robbery investigation (the latter being true), Diego takes his sweet time flirting with Maddie during his interrogations, including while in custody after his crimes are exposed.
- Fluffy Fashion Feathers: Lady Highmore, a socialite coming from a well-known family in Concordia, wears a hat adorned with red feathers. Said feathers even come into play when you find traces of them and pinpoint her as a suspect.
- For Science!: Dick's justification for being a Professor Guinea Pig, as you find him sewing his own arm during the autopsy report.Dick: Science is my mistress, Madeline. She deserves my every sacrifice!
- Guest-Star Party Member: Diego del Lobo momentarily joins you in the Additional Investigation by helping you forge an invitation for Alastor's next party, which is treated as an analysis performed by a teammate.
- He Knows Too Much: Ignatius murdered Philomena for this reason, even saying it word by word.Ignatius: Yes, yes! I DID kill Philomena Highmore! She knew too much and had to be silenced!Maddie: Silenced?! What exactly did she know?Ignatius: She knew my tricks of the trade! Everything I use for a medium!
- Insufferable Imbecile: Almost everyone saw the victim as this, as Abigail despised how she only attended women's suffrage meetings as an excuse to party and get drunk, her aunt disliked how she soiled the Highmore name for the same reason, and she made fun of Ignatius and his seance while it was still ocurring (which to be fair was justified as he's a fraud, but still). In Abigail's words, Philomena had "no self-control and even less intellect."
- Master Forger: In addition to being a Gentleman Thief, Diego del Lobo is also revealed to be this, as he flawlessly replicated the painting of The Virgin Mary by Sassoferrato and also helps the Flying Squad by forging an invitation to Mr. Alastor's next party, which are supposed to be exclusive to each guest.
- Menacing Museum: The case takes place in a museum where a Spooky Séance was taking place.
- Ouija Board: You find one as a clue with a threatening message sent to the victim, allowing you to deduce that the killer knows all about these
- Phony Psychic: Ignatius Cottingley is a Con Man pretending to be a psychic to scam people into believing he can talk to their deceased loved ones, and killed Philomena after she found out about it.
- Properly Paranoid: When you speak with Lady Highmore in the Additional Investigation, she seems concerned about the fact that two people have already died in Mr. Alastor's parties, and wonders if there's a connection behind these deaths. Come the next case, and you find out her suspicions are entirely justified.
- Spoiled Brat: Abigail Simandl, the museum curator, calls the victim "a trust fund princess who had no concern for anyone or anything", and throughout the investigation you discover that her allegations are true as you learn how Philomena often mistreated people for her own amusement.
- Spooky Séance: The theme for Mr. Alastor's second party is having one of these inside of a museum, although someone should've probably told him that hiring a Phony Psychic for the whole ordeal wasn't such a good idea.
- Shout-Out:
- The case's title is an obvious reference to The Walking Dead (2010)
- Lady Highmore resembles Violet Crawley.
- In the Museum Garden scene, there is a portrait of Louis XIV, while the Museum Statue scene has a bust of Julius Caesar.
- There are mentions and references of several historical figures:
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Michelangelo Caravaggio
- Gian Lorenzo Bernini
- Giovanni Sassoferrato
- Johannes Vermeer
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton
- William Shakespeare (Macbeth is also quoted).
- Wilhelm Röntgen
- Skeletons in the Coat Closet: One of the killer's traits is that they're wearing a gold-covered crow skull as an accessory.
- Skewed Priorities: Both Lady Highmore and Abigail seem more concerned about either family heirlooms or the museum statue being defaced by the victim's body than the fact she's dead, the former being an even more egregious example as she's the victim's aunt.
- Slashed Throat: How Philomena was killed using an obsidian blade.
- Spooky Photographs: The victim faked one of these (pictured above) then sent it to Ignatius to mock him after she discovered he was a Phony Psychic.
- The Suffragette: Abigail Simandl, the museum's curator, is also an avid supporter of the women's right to vote, even organizing meetings for it and hating the victim because she used said meetings as an excuse to drink and party.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Officer George Blanton is this in regards of Isaac, since he's a huge Fanboy of him and wants to impress him with some detective work. He gets his wish when Isaac congratulates him for correctly pinpointing Diego as a forger who stole The Virgin Mary painting.
