Recap / Criminal Case: Mysteries of the Past - Case 41: Talk of the Town

That's surely a way to make ice cream melt faster.

While discussing with Chief Wright about the Concordia Telephone Company bonds and whether they might be legitimate or not, Maddie informs the player that a murder has been reported at the Grand Concordia Hotel, prompting them to rush to the establishment. There, Maddie and the player find by the hotel pool the body of journalist Joseph Pryor with his throat corroded.

Tropes:

• Artistic License – Chemistry: The killer somehow managed to slip sulfuric acid in the victim's ice cream cup without getting the dessert to instantly melt in a goop while also getting him to eat it without suspecting anything.
• Asshole Victim: The victim was an Immoral Journalist who liked to blackmail and manipulate other people to do his deeds, twists stories to fit his narrative and slander others' reputations for fun, stole ideas from other journalists and passed them as his own without giving them credit, and also cooperated in the creation of the fake telephone company bonds to scam hundreds of people out of their money. It's no wonder even his father sees him as a disgrace and everyone is shown to hate him throughout the case.
• The Bartender: Bert Tucker, the bartender from the Grand Concordia Hotel bar, appears as a suspect.
• Big Damn Heroes: After the Concordia Telephone Company bonds are revealed to be a fraud, Charlie decides to step in and use his genius to make the company a legitimate thing, saving the hundreds of people who invested in the bonds from bankruptcy.
• Big Damn Kiss: Charlie and Maddie finally kiss in this case to prove her mother they're really in love after she tries to force them to marry.
• Blackmail: The victim had been doing this with Hector, as he discovered Hector's degree was fake and threatened with exposing him if Hector didn't work as his lawyer for free. When Joseph tried to blackmail him into destroying his own sister in court, Hector decided to murder him.
• Call-Back: Katherine Woolf and Hector Harvey return as suspects. Eileen O'Malley and Leopold Rochester also reappear during the Additional Investigation.
• Calling the Old Woman Out: Maddie does this with her mother after discovering she forced Charlie to propose to her to "salvage" her reputation, as people are throwing Maddie dirt due to living with a man without being married.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Bernadine Rochester, the woman Chief Wright has been courting throughout the whole district and has mentioned multiple times, makes an appearance here as a suspect.
• Cliffhanger: The case ends with Isaac informing the Squad that Deputy Mayor Sandra Hwang has been murdered.
• The Con: The Concordia Telephone Company security bonds are revealed to be this during the Additional Investigation, as Diego and Evie discover they're totally worthless and were created as a scam by Joseph and Leopold. Fortunately, Charlie manages to reverse this by making the telephone company legitimate.
• Con Man: Joseph and Leopold created the Concordia Telephone Company bonds just to scam people, selling them as the greatest thing of the century which would save everyone from bankruptcy and the stock market crash.
• Contrived Coincidence: By mere coincidence, the victim just happened to be one of the scammers involved in the security bonds fraud, as he used his role as a journalist to imprint and spread the word about them.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: The victim died by ingesting sulfuric acid, which according to Dick, slowly corroded his throat and made him experience and excruciating and painful death.
• Disappointed in You: During the investigation, Erwin, Joseph's father, learns about the atrocious things he did as an Immoral Journalist and goes to his office to destroy it, claiming that he feels disappointed in him.
• Don't Celebrate Just Yet: Right when Chief Wright attempts to invite everyone to celebrate shutting down the Concordia Telephone Company fraud, Isaac barges in to inform you that the celebration will have to wait, as Deputy Mayor Sandra Hwang has been murdered.
• Evil All Along: Leopold Rochester, an apparent kind man and White Sheep of the Rochester family, is revealed to be the one behind the Concordia Telephone Company bonds fraud and responsible for stealing everyone's money. Subverted in the next case, see Foreshadowing.
• Foreshadowing: When you confront Leopold about the telephone company fraud, he appears to be very confused and distraught about the whole ordeal, something even Chief Wright considers odd. Of course, this is because Leopold isn't actually the one behind the fraud, but someone else who is using him as The Scapegoat.
• Hollywood Acid: The victim was killed by being tricked into ingesting sulfuric acid, which corroded his throat.
• Honorable Marriage Proposal: During the Additional Investigation, Maddie's mother manipulates Charlie into proposing marriage to Maddie, claiming that she's being slandered and her reputation is at risk due to living with a man without being married.
• Hypocrite: Maddie accuses Hector of being this during his Motive Rant as for why he killed Joseph, since he didn't mind Joseph ruining other people's reputations but drew the line when he tried to slander Hector's sister.
• Immoral Journalist: Joseph enjoyed making up stories to attract public outrage and twisting real ones for the same reason. And that's without mentioning his totally illegal activities such as setting up a fraudulent company to scam people.
  Hector: It's a shame he's dead, we had a good thing going on. There was nobody Joseph was scared to attack in his articles! Nor any story he wouldn't invent, for that matter!
• Love Hurts: The victim manipulated Bert into thinking they were in love, but Joseph was just using him since, as a bartender in a high-class hotel, Bert was prone to hearing gossip among the elite of Concordia, something that obviously interested someone like Joseph. When Bert found about it, he was so heartbroken he almost committed suicide.
• Malicious Slander: The victim was fond of doing these for his stories, specially if he was attacking prestigious people like the Rochesters. He also slandered the reputation of Hector's sister, leading to Hector killing him.
• Mood Whiplash: The Flying Squad's joyful celebration for Maddie and Charlie stepping up in their relationship and the telephone bonds fraud being converted into a real thing is abruptly interrupted when the news of the Deputy Mayor's murder are delivered.
• No Mere Windmill: As it turns out, Diego's suspicions that the Concordia Telephone Company bonds were fishy end up being entirely justified when you discover they're actually a scam set up by Joseph and Leopold to rob people out of their money.
• Outliving One's Offspring: When you inform Erwin about Joseph's death, he tearfully says that parents shouldn't be burying their own children.
• Phony Degree: Not only Joseph discovered Hector's law degree was fake, but he also used said information to blackmail Hector into working as his lawyer for free.
• Rejected Marriage Proposal: Maddie rejects Charlie proposal after her mother forces him do to it, declaring that it's not the correct thing to do.
• Sadistic Choice: When Hector's sister attempted to sue Joseph for defamation, Joseph told Hector that he had to destroy his own sister in court or else he would reveal that his law degree was fake. Hector opted for killing Joseph instead.
• Slut-Shaming: Joseph tried to slander Bernadine's reputation by almost publishing an article detailing her various "romantic exploits" with multiple gentlemen.
• Stealing the Credit: When you find Katherine scratched the victim's journalism award, she tells you he always stole her stories, twisted them to fit his narrative or defame someone, then published them as his own.
• Tampering with Food and Drink: Joseph was killed by having sulfuric acid slipped into his ice cream cup.
• Tempting Fate: The following exchange at the beginning of the case:
  Chief Wright: And what's more, Miss Bernadine Rochester has granted me another rendezvous! Nothing could possibly dampen my moo-
  Maddie: Chief, we've just heard reports of a murder by the swimming pool at the Grand Concordia Hotel!
• Title Drop: Eileen, Maddie's mother, does one when she berates Charlie for living with her without being married.
  Eileen: I will not have my daughter being the talk of the town, young man! Do you hear me? You must propose to her at once!
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: When you interrogate Erwin for destroying his son's office, he admits he did it in a fit of rage because he discovered Joseph was an Immoral Journalist, claiming that he used to be a good sweet boy before.
• Who Murdered the Asshole: Every suspect in this case had a solid motive to murder the victim due to a grudge against him, as he manipulated Bert by faking feelings for him, blackmailed Hector with his Phony Degree, published an article Slut-Shaming Bernadine as a form of defamation, stole Katherine's works to publish them as his own, and disappointed his father Erwin by becoming an Immoral Journalist that made a living tormenting others.