Recap / Criminal Case: World Edition - Case 44: Murder, He Wrote

Puts a new meaning on Blood Books.

The Bureau goes to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to learn more about SOMBRA's past and their business in the country decades ago. Trusting there might be old documents about them at the local library, Chief Ripley sends Michelle, Dupont, and the player to investigate there, where they stumble onto the body of author Ernesto Cárpena tortured to death.

Tropes:

• Banana Republic: The Sovereign Democracy of Luzaguay, a fictional South American country where one of the SOMBRA's Antarctic explorers emigrated after the expedition was deemed a failure. At the end of the case, the Bureau decides to travel there to look for more information.
• Blatant Lies: Ignacio blatantly claims to not know anything about SOMBRA looking for old documents despite the fact you have proof about a payment issued by them towards him.
• Buffy Speak: Dupont requests Elliot's help with his "geoloco... GP-thingy" to search for the treasure buried below the mountains.
• The Bus Came Back: Lars returns pretty quickly after being Put on a Bus in the finale of Africa, though he's shown to not be on a very stable condition for work.
• Cigarette Burns: The victim was tortured with these, which allows you to deduce the killer smokes.
• Closet Gay: The victim had a secret affair with Facundo, who wished Ernesto would leave his wife to be with him instead. However, Ernesto opted to keep their relationship secret until the end.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Ernesto was hit in the head, burned with a cigarettes, and stabbed multiple times by his killer before being finished off.
• Continuity Nod: Elliot finally manages to repair BØB after Angela sabotaged it in Case 38.
• A Day in the Limelight: Dupont becomes your partner in Chapter 1, as he decides to come along with you and Michelle to the library and therefore stays there during your investigation.
• The Dreaded: According to Michelle, even the upper echelons of SOMBRA fear El Rey, the supreme leader of the organization.
• Driven to Suicide: Lars attempts to commit suicide in Chapter 3 by almost slicing his neck with a kitchen knife.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Lars stays drunk on wine for most of the case until he recovers in the Additional Investigation, since he's still coping with his wife's arrest.
  Lars: I'm fine! I've found some great Argentinian wine, and the hole in my chest will probably stop hurting any minute now!
• Evil Librarians: Lorena Pratx, the killer, is a SOMBRA agent working as a librarian in the city.
• Fiery Cover-Up: Lorena burned the documents that Ernesto found after she killed him to avoid revealing crucial information about SOMBRA, though you manage to recover an intact fragment that reveals El Rey, SOMBRA's supreme leader, exists.
• Gaucho: One of your suspects, El Desesperado (The Desperate in English), is one.
• Gratuitous Spanish: As the case is set in Argentina, most of your suspects like to add Spanish words to their speech while talking to you.
• He Knows Too Much: Lorena killed Ernesto after he discovered some old documents that detailed a lot of old information regarding SOMBRA, which he obviously wasn't supposed to see.
• Hidden Villain: This case reveals that there exists a supreme leader behind SOMBRA's operations who, according to Michelle, is a myth even for the upper echelons of the organization, something that doesn't stop him from being The Dreaded among them.
• Implied Death Threat: El Desesperado shot at a picture of the victim then sent it to him as a threat so he would stay out of his territory in the mountains.
• Innocent Bystander: Poor Ernesto. All he wanted to do was dig up an ancient treasure to get some inspiration for his next book, but ended up stumbling onto some important SOMBRA documentation that got him killed.
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Lorena tortured Ernesto with cigarette burns and non-lethal stabs so he would tell her what he knew about the SOMBRA documents he found and where they were hidden. Once that was settled, she killed him.
• Just Following Orders: Lorena declares herself "not guilty" of Ernesto's murder during her trial, claiming that she was just doing her job for SOMBRA.
• "Knock Knock" Joke: Lars uses his typical one to express his pain about Angela being arrested, which is met with some Stunned Silence from Michelle.
  Lars: Hey, <Player's Name>. I have a new knock-knock joke, and my whole life's the punchline!
  "Knock-knock. Who's there?" How about who's not there: my wife! Because she turned out to be a murderous SOMBRA spy!
• Lack of Empathy: Lorena inflicted a horrible Cold-Blooded Torture on Ernesto before killing him, then blamed his death on himself due to digging the SOMBRA documents in the first place.
  Michelle: <Player's Name>, I feel old saying this, but SOMBRA agents seem to get more brutal every year! That girl didn't see anything wrong with murdering a man the way she did.
• Lampshade Hanging: During the autopsy report, Michelle says she'll be astonished if she's not greeted by a fresh corpse in every country the Bureau visits.
• Large Ham: Facundo is full of passion, that's for sure.
  Facundo: That's terrible! He was a good man! And he wrote with PASSION!
  But now he'll never drink the wine I gave him! Because he's dead! And that's TRAGIC! Tragic like an aborted tango!
• Manly Gay: Facundo Vidal is muscular, has a manly mustache, speaks with lots of ham, and was so in love with the victim he asked him to leave his wife so they could get married.
• Mondegreen Gag: When Dupont informs you about Lorena's birth certificate coming from Luzaguay, Jack tells him to not call himself "a loser guy".
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Lorena likes to play the role of a forgetful and innocent librarian, but is actually a cold-blooded murderer and SOMBRA agent.
• Opportunistic Bastard: Ignacio Muñoz, an antiquarian who, according to Michelle, is willing to help anyone, no matter if they are good or bad, as long as they pay him well with antiquities. Of course, this includes SOMBRA.
• Public Secret Message: Elliot manages to decipher a weather report issued to Lorena by SOMBRA ordering her to burn down the documents Ernesto found.
• Pun: After a very drunken Lars tells you the killer drinks mate, Michelle requests Jack to take care of his good mate Lars before leaving.
• Real After All: After you learn about El Rey, Michelle tells you she wasn't even sure if he existed, as he's supposed to be just a myth even among the upper echelons of SOMBRA.
  Chief Ripley: <Player's Name>, what's this I hear about a mythical SOMBRA leader?
  Michelle: He's known as El Rey, and believe me, I'd have mentioned him long ago if I'd thought he was real!
• Resigned in Disgrace: Alejandro Pratx, Lorena's grandfather, was part of the Antarctic expedition from SOMBRA that the Argentinian government deemed a failure. Due to this, Alejandro was forced to retire in shame and emigrate to another country.
  Jack: Well, you might be ashamed of how badly your gramps messed up. That article said his expedition returned in disgrace!
  Lorena: The real disgrace is how the Argentine government treated my grandfather!
  Argentina booted these explorers out of their mandated Antarctic territories! So my grandfather failed his SOMBRA mission! The shame!
• Shout-Out:
  • The case's title comes from the TV series Murder, She Wrote.
  • The victim wrote a book titled Rayuela de Ficción, which is a parody of Rayuela.
  • Evangelina Cárpena is a parody of Eva Perón.
  • One of the killer's identifying traits is that they read Borges.
• Skewed Priorities: Dupont is more concerned about the fact that someone disgraced the library by committing a murder inside of it than the victim's death.
• Smug Snake: Ignacio likes to taunt Michelle about her previous ties with SOMBRA and how she's now working for the Bureau, all without a hint of shame about the fact he's helping SOMBRA too.
• Stealing the Credit: Rayuela de Ficción was actually written by Evangelina Cárpena, Ernesto's wife, but he stole the novel and put his name on it since he didn't want her to be famous before him.
• Talking Down the Suicidal: Jack manages to calm down Lars before he can slice his neck with a kitchen knife.
• Tango: Facundo Vidal, one of your suspects, is a tango dancer and teacher.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: The victim was stabbed 23 times before he died.
• Throw the Book at Them: The victim was first knocked out by being hit with a iron-covered book before being tied up and tortured.
• Treasure Hunt Episode: The case mainly centers around a cache full of old documents that SOMBRA buried in the mountains decades ago and the victim was looking for, which got him killed after he found them. Elliot and Dupont manage to find the empty chest during the main investigation, and you recover a piece of information from the burned documents that reveal El Rey's existence.