Recap / Criminal Case: Mysteries of the Past - Case 09: Sweet Revenge

Everything in this room is eatable. Even I'm eatable. But that's called cannibalism, my dear children, and is in fact frowned upon in most societies.

Isaac and the player attend the third of Mr. Alastor's soirées, which is taking place inside of a chocolate factory, to investigate the fact that two people have already died in these aforementioned parties and prevent another murder from happening. Unfortunately, they're proven to be too late when, upon entering the factory, they're greeted with the body of socialite Jack Goodwin, stuffed to death with chocolate and floating in a chocolate river.

Tropes:

• Advanced Tech 2000: The victim was killed with the Chocolometer 1000, a chocolate-packaging machine with a claw that was used to stuff him to death with candy.
• Blackmail: Jack had been blackmailing Rockley with selling the recipe of his new candy concoction if he didn't pay him a hefty sum of money, which gave Rockley a good motive to kill him.
• Bound and Gagged: The victim was bound with licorice strings before being stuffed with chocolate, which in a way served as a gag.
• Call-Back: Seamus O'Neill reappears during the Additional Investigation, now working as a delivery man supplying Mr. Alastor with all the things needed for his party.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: Chief Halsted could give Maddie a run for her money in this regard, as she gets so plastered with mint julep she causes a chocolate explosion all over the factory by pulling a lever she wasn't supposed to, all while happily giggling without any concern.
• Charlie and the Chocolate Parody: The case takes place in a chocolate factory whose insides are practically a copy of the well-known Wonka Factory. Many of the suspects are also parodies of the characters seen in the novel/films.
• Corrupted Character Copy: Jack Goodwin starting out in poverty is similar to Charlie Bucket's situation in the beginning of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but whereas Charlie went from Rags to Riches by honest means (namely winning Willy Wonka's Batman Gambit of a contest), Jack took the easy way out by robbing banks, leaving town, and returning in the guise of a socialite.
• Entitled Bastard: Verushka Coldwell is a Rich Bitch who also feels entitled to being the new face of Rochester Chocolates, to the point throwing a tantrum because her dream wouldn't come true. Fittingly, considering the character she's based on.
• Force Feeding: The victim was killed by being forced to ingest chocolate until he asphyxiated.
• Foreshadowing: In Chapter 3, Chief Halsted pulls a lever that causes a chocolate explosion, and Isaac assumes someone deliberately sabotaged the machine before Halsted happily admits that it wasn't a saboteur, but her being curious about what the lever did. Fast forward to Case 18, and Halsted is revealed to be the saboteur that has been tampering with the World Exhibition's inventions.
• Girls Love Chocolate: Evie, Viola, and even Chief Halsted are shown to be absolutely thrilled about visiting the chocolate factory for this reason. Throughout the investigation, Viola keeps requesting Isaac to bring her some chocolate during her analyses, Evie sneaks inside of the factory to grab some for herself, and Chief Halsted calls it the best day of her life after an explosion causes chocolate to rain all over everyone attending the party. Dick also mentions how the ladies of the Squad requested the airship to be moved closer to the factory so they could grab some treats.
  Isaac: My word, you ladies sure have an affinity for chocolate! Unfortunately, we do not have any with us.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Violetta murdered Jack because she was jealous of his relationship with Verushka since she was also in love with her, feeling entitled of having Verushka all for herself.
• Hidden Villain: This case reveals that Mr. Alastor is an antagonist as he has been organizing his parties with the sole purpose of triggering murders among his guests. And of course, his identity remains a complete mystery towards everyone.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: Violetta says she'll need to drink some more mint julep after you inform her of Jack's murder.
• The Jeeves: Archie has a valet called Wentworth who briefly appears to give him his asthma medicine before taking off.
• Lead Police Detective: Chief Inspector Eleanor Halsted is introduced in this case, serving as the security official for Mr. Alastor's third party. Not that she does a very good job, though, considering how she got drunk while on duty, provoked a chocolate explosion, and allowed someone to die on her watch.
• Mock Millionaire: The victim was this, as he stole some hefty sums of money from various banks, disappeared from a few years, and then reappeared in Elysium Fields with a new identity where he used said stolen money to party hard until his death.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: What the murder motivation boils down to. Violetta murdered Jack so she could be with Verushka.
• Nasty Party: During the Additional Investigation, Evie manages to deduce from Mr. Alastor's notes that he's deliberately setting up parties so guests will kill each other, inviting specific people to his soirées who, according to his calculations, have the highest chance of committing a murder against another guest.
• Not So Above It All:
  • Despite presenting herself as a responsible Chief Inspector, Eleanor isn't above having fun herself when she gets drunk on mint julep while on duty and pulls a lever that causes an explosion that makes chocolate rain all over the factory, calling it the best day of her life.
  • Throughout the case, Isaac considers it childish to be excited over candy and chocolate, but after the murder is solved, he reveals he grabbed a sample of Rockley's new chocolate for himself, claiming that curiosity got the better of him.
• Noodle Incident: At the beginning of the case, Isaac says that the last time he had so much candy in his proximity, things didn't end well for him.
• Odd Friendship: Archie Rochester, a timid and sick rich boy coming from a prestigious family, was friends with Jack Goodwin, a hard partying Mock Millionaire. However, their friendship came to an end when Jack found their interests to be incompatible with each other.
• Prescience by Analysis: This is how Mr. Alastor's M.O. works: he makes a list of all the socialites most likely to murder another person during a party, then invites them and lets his calculations do the dirty work, "predicting" murders by pure logic and statistics.
• Psycho Lesbian: Violetta murdered Jack because he was in a relationship with Verushka, whom she was in love with too.
• Rags to Riches: Jack used to be a nobody growing in poverty until he stole from a bunch of banks, disappeared from a few years, and then one day appeared in Concordia under the guise of a rich socialite.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Fragile and friendless Archie was the Sensitive Guy to Jack's bold, hard-partying, and in a relationship with the admittedly beautiful Verushka Manly Man.
• Shout-Out:
  • The case's setting is directly inspired by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and its film adaptation Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
    • The victim, Jack Goodwin, is a Corrupted Character Copy of Charlie Bucket, although his body being found in a chocolate river more mirrors Augustus Gloop's punishment.
    • Rockley Rochester is a parody of Willy Wonka as portrayed by Gene Wilder.
    • Verushka Coldwell is a parody of Veruca Salt.
    • Violetta Blue is a parody of Violet Beauregarde.
    • The invitations to the party are in the form of Diamond Tickets.
  • In the Chocolate River scene, there is a book titled "Matwilda".
  • In the Production Line scene, there is a copy of The Picture of Dorian Gray.
  • The murder weapon is a machine called the Chocolometer 1000, which resembles a Dalek.
• Skewed Priorities: As expected, Rockley is more concerned about the fact that someone died in his factory and his reputation could be soiled than the death itself.
• Spoiled Brat: Verushka, a young and rich socialite with a severe case of Entitled Bastard who believes that, just because she's rich and pretty, she should be the new face of Rochester Chocolates, and even throws a tantrum because it won't happen.
• Stuff Blowing Up: In Chapter 3, Chief Halsted makes a machine blow up when she pulls a lever, causing chocolate to rain and soak everyone in the factory.
• There Are No Coincidences: Isaac says this regarding the fact that yet another person has died during one of Alastor's parties, and his suspicions turn out to be true when, during the Additional Investigation, Evie discovers that Mr. Alastor is indeed hosting parties so people will kill each other.
  Isaac: Not only do we have another murder... but this makes the third of Mr Alastor's parties where someone has been killed. This cannot be a coincidence!
• We Used to Be Friends: Archie and Jack had an Odd Friendship until Jack left Archie in the dust due to him not being able to keep up with his partying lifestyle.
• What Does This Button Do?: Eleanor does this with a lever, causing a machine to explode and rain chocolate all over the factory.
  Eleanor: There was a big lever... and I wanted to see what it did... so I pulled it!
  I pulled a little too hard with my left hand... and... oops! Chocolate everywhere!
• The Wonka: Rockley Rochester, the owner of the chocolate factory, is an obvious parody to Willy Wonka, and his eccentric, strange candy-making personality shows it. He even resembles Wonka physically.◊