THE GAME IS AFOOT

The Tale of the Disappearing Beauty is a cooperative mystery game where the players work together to match the speed and brilliance of the man who stood alone in Europe, in both his gifts and wit, Sherlock Holmes.

If your party can fulfill the very loftiest achievement in deduction, then such mesmeric brilliance ought to be memorialised and passed down through generations.The mystery is our first, assembled by a lifelong lover of the Canon of Sherlock Holmes (as devoted acolytes refer to the original Conan Doyle collection of 56 short stories and 4 novels from the pen of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle).

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This lover's inspiration came from the remarkable discovery, deep into a comfortably eighth re-reading of the Canon, that somehow he had overlooked one of them: The Adventure of Black Peter. Whilst our designer did not quite foretell the case (though felt he was closer than ever to solving the mystery before it was revealed) - his crowning achievement was to note to himself that rum was drunk when whisky and brandy were available.

Therefore, it must have been a sailor – a key element in Holmes' deduction!Finally, he felt he had entered the orbit of the mind of Doyle, and the habits and mores of the time. Perhaps he could finally attempt to scribe something that could approach the very highest peak - a pastiche that could conceivably be transcribed by the original author - and worthy of the methods of 'Higher Criticism’.

The language is intended to be faithful to Conan Doyle's prose. Some of the words may be a little old-fashioned – we encourage players to look up words they are unsure of. Hopefully, discovering the meaning of words that have largely fallen into disuse will evoke the same gratification the creator of this mystery enjoyed when first reading the original books.

The language used also reveals some of the ill-conceived prejudices of the time. Please read these in the spirit in which they were placed there – the impossible attempt made to give the impression that this game was penned by the great Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself.

Now embark upon your adventure, and may the spirit of deduction guide your steps!

If the thrill of the chase leaves you invigorated, let your satisfaction be known! A brief account of your experience may well entice other keen minds to test their mettle against this singular mystery.

Based on 12 reviews
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Excellent my wife and I spent a brilliant night pondering over the case following clues going up dead ends a really great and entertaining experience for two Homes nuts.

Capital! It's always a pleasure to hear from fellow enthusiasts of the detective arts. It sounds like you and your wife had a splendid time navigating the twists and turns of 'The Disappearing Beauty.' Ah, yes, those dead ends be quite the conundrum, can't they? But fear not, even the most seasoned sleuth encounters the occasional false lead. The thrill, after all, lies in the pursuit of truth, no matter how convoluted the path.
Thank you most kindly for sharing your experience. We're delighted to have provided an evening of entertainment for two such ardent admirers of Holmes.
Cheers, The Sherlock Investigates Team ️‍♂️

A very enjoyable evening!

As someone who loves Sherlock Holmes, I was thrilled to get The Disappearing Beauty for my Birthday. Just two of us deduced what happend for a date night. It was well put together, some clues are more obvious than others but lots to look at and read to keep you guessing. We really enjoyed it and will definitely get another.

Splendid! It warms our hearts to hear you enjoyed 'The Disappearing Beauty'! And on your birthday, no less!
We're always aiming for that perfect balance of challenge and satisfaction, so your feedback is invaluable.
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts. W
May your days be filled with intrigue and adventure!
Cheers,
The Sherlock Investigates Team️‍♂️

A great introduction to detective gaming

The increased interest in escape rooms and puzzle solving leads to items like these. At the price point they have set the materials are adequate, the level of acting in both voice overs do leave a little to be desired. As for the level of difficulty, medium at best. If you have never experienced a detective game before, this is a good introduction. If you are experienced, this will not tax you too highly.

Amazeballs!

It was me, the wife, who bought this. I was looking for something fun to do with the husband on a Friday night. He was totally not bothered and had a couldn't arsed attitude. This changed within minutes of opening the first envelope.... he was hooked, as was I. Great way to spend an evening. Can't wait to try the other ones now.

A MOST CURIOUS DELIVERY!

Much like any other day here at Bucket List HQ, the rattling of the letterbox around dinner time today signified the arrival of the friendly village postie.

However, when I wandered to the porch to investigate which selection of bills and pizza flyers had been deposited today, I found a most curious package waiting for me!

Inside was a mystery in 5 Parts; The Tale of the Disappearing Beauty!

With Halloween just around the corner I enlisted the help of Burgie the Raven and together we set about reading the opening letter from none other than Mr John Watson himself… the game was afoot!

‘The Tale of the Disappearing Beauty’ is the debut cooperative mystery game from Sherlock Investigates, a UK based publisher with a love for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Canon of Sherlock Holmes.

Players are tasked with matching the speed and brilliance of 221b Baker Street’s most prolific resident, sifting through a plethora of high-quality evidence provided by Holmes right-hand man, Dr Watson.

Burgy and I are still working on the case, but what do we think to ‘The Tale of the Disappearing Beauty’ so far?

Firstly, the components are great, all high quality and with a really professional finish to each piece of evidence we have cast our investigative eyes over so far. A few of the pages could have been made double sided to cut back on paper and costs, but I suspect this was done so they can be shared around the group quicker when initially kicking off the game - if so this is a nice touch, especially when there is an impatient player in your group.

Unfortunately I can’t show more in the pictures, as I don’t want to ruin anything, but believe me this is nicely put together!

Where Sherlock Investigates really steals the show is in its prose. Written as closely as they could get it to Doyle’s work, the text flows and immediately immerses you in the situation. Short of having someone with an old-timey British accent reading it out to me with a classical score accompanying them in the background, I don’t think this element could have been improved.

The puzzles, at least the ones we’ve cracked so far, are challenging but not impossible to work out- no moon logic or huge leaps of faith required here. It is also made clear in the opening paragraphs that Sherlock knows his stuff, and if he has said something you can take it as absolute, which thematically makes it clear what is cold hard fact as you continue your investigations.

Each part requires the player to make a grand deduction, the correct answer residing in the next envelope along. However, if at any point the investigation looks to be hitting a brick wall, a handy QR code is provided to supply hints. This is obviously a little harder for Watson to explain away, but he does a good job of it none the less.

The closest comparison to what Sherlock Investigates have done here would be the fantastic Detective Society boxes, especially as they come in around the same price point (or at least they would if you could still purchase The Detective Society boxes separately.)

‘The Tale of the Disappearing Beauty’ rivals the quality of those boxes in my opinion. The Detective Society may have all the ‘bells and whistles’ of actual texts, emails and phone calls, but this doesn’t NEED them to feel just as immersive, the writing and theme does that adequately well.

Plus it means you can play it with your more technophobic friends and relatives and still have a bloody good time!

Anyway, Burgy and I better get our deerstalkers back on and crack on with the case, but we can’t wait to see what is next from Sherlock Investigates!

Excellent family fun!

My parents (in their 70s) and I (in my 40s) are keen on escape rooms and logic challenges. I saw this advertised on Instagram and decided to give it a try. I’m very glad that I did so. We cracked the case in two hours, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves throughout. I heartily recommend this, and I am keen to purchase any further challenges in the future!

Enjoyed it!

An interesting challenge but without feeling overly difficult or unfair. There is a good amount of reading required.

Challenging but engaging

We're massive Sherlock fans so we're all in on this game. Took about 2 hours to complete and it was a challenge. Very authentic to the Canon.

Fun to solve

I'm not a gamer, but I really enjoyed this game. It was easy to play, and the puzzles were hard but fun to solve. I recommend it for anyone looking to shake things up on a Friday night or something fun to do as a group. Budget a few hours to finish!

Immersive game play

I've played quite a few mystery games, and this one is one of the better ones. It's well-designed, immersive, and challenging. Requires a good amount of independent reading to find clues and get into the story.

Challenging but fun

I'm a big fan of Sherlock Holmes, and this game was a lot of fun. It was challenging, but not so much that it was frustrating. The evidence was authentic and the story reminded me of reading a Sherlock book. I would recommend this game to other fans of Sherlock Holmes.

Good dinner party game

I'm actually not a huge fan of mystery games, but I liked this one. It was well-written and the puzzles were challenging but not impossible. I also liked that the game was cooperative, we played it after dinner. There are a lot of pieces of evidence but we learned a lot about Victorian England.

perfect dinner party game

i really loved playing this game! we played it with 5 of us and it was so much fun - it's incredibly detailed, well-thought out, comes with lots of pieces of evidence so you feel like it's well worth the price, and it's full of twists and turns that we didn't see coming. loved the sherlock theme too, it really does immerse you into that world. it's also a great option if you're looking for a collaborative rather than competitive game, it was nice to play a game where we didn't end up breaking out into arguments for once! would definitely recommend it.