9) Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey?

[CharlesX]

This Edward Packard gamebook is one of the more memorable CYOA. As is often the case with this series the concept and entertainment value are arguably miles better than the outcome. The victim is not fleshed out at all, the endings can be inconsistent and sometimes the police crack the case while you are knocked out (which is rather more sentimental than the way Endless Quest might handle things); there are ridiculously open endings like "I think I solved the case, so I've won" and "I think I don't have a clue, so I've lost". But there's no question Edward Packard is a talented writer and knows how to build a world full of cut-throat plotting bad guys, with illustrations which add to some atmosphere. It's probably too short as well as too juvenile and arguably not up there with either actual mysteries or even other mystery gamebooks; I would have preferred a gamebook that was less fantastic and had more depth\breadth, which is another common trait in CYOA.

   Fun fact: Harlan Thrombey, from Knives Out film, was named after Harlowe Thrombey.

[a moderator]

Dec 29, 2023 20:36:26 GMT CharlesX said:

It's probably too short as well as too juvenile and arguably not up there with either actual mysteries or even other mystery gamebooks

While visiting family over the Christmas period, I chanced upon one of the Be A Detective Mystery Stories gamebooks in a charity shop, and decided to give it a punt. Only played it the once so far, but first impressions suggest that Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey is a lot better than this 'other mystery gamebook'.

For starters, I'm not sure that the 'reader choices determine what happens rather than what the protagonist does' model is a good choice for the genre. And even if someone could use it to create a decent mystery gamebook, that’s not the case here. Too much happens without reader input: the last decision I got to make determined the location of Nancy Drew’s malfunctioning plane, leaving me a spectator for the subsequent ditching of the plane, rescue of Nancy, car chase, interrogation of an antagonist, and revelation of who was guilty of what.

Moving in the vague direction of on-topic, I think CYOA’s Mystery of Ura Senke is one of the better examples of the mystery gamebook subgenre – especially the way the solution remains consistent regardless of the choices made, but following different routes reveals different aspects of that solution, so it’s worth replaying the book even after getting a ‘win’ ending in order to get the full story.

[CharlesX]

Jan 1, 2024 18:48:20 GMT a moderator said:

Dec 29, 2023 20:36:26 GMT CharlesX said:

It's probably too short as well as too juvenile and arguably not up there with either actual mysteries or even other mystery gamebooks

While visiting family over the Christmas period, I chanced upon one of the Be A Detective Mystery Stories gamebooks in a charity shop, and decided to give it a punt. Only played it the once so far, but first impressions suggest that Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey is a lot better than this 'other mystery gamebook'.

For starters, I'm not sure that the 'reader choices determine what happens rather than what the protagonist does' model is a good choice for the genre. And even if someone could use it to create a decent mystery gamebook, that’s not the case here. Too much happens without reader input: the last decision I got to make determined the location of Nancy Drew’s malfunctioning plane, leaving me a spectator for the subsequent ditching of the plane, rescue of Nancy, car chase, interrogation of an antagonist, and revelation of who was guilty of what.

Moving in the vague direction of on-topic, I think CYOA’s Mystery of Ura Senke is one of the better examples of the mystery gamebook subgenre – especially the way the solution remains consistent regardless of the choices made, but following different routes reveals different aspects of that solution, so it’s worth replaying the book even after getting a ‘win’ ending in order to get the full story.

I was basing my point about '(other) mystery gamebooks' a bit on a couple of gamebooks I read growing up, where you'd have so many hours and minutes to solve a case and you'd turn to different references to explore different aspects of the case. That format worked well as I recall, just disadvantageous it didn't have much replay value even with a number of cases per book. "'Reader choices determine what happens rather than what the protagonist does" can be a particular issue in CYOA where it is sometimes combined with below-average writing, which leaves the reader feeling little enjoyment in the example of stereotyped below-average R. A. Montgomery, Edward Packard and others are also guilty because although I praise Edward Packard he wrote many filler-style CYOA as well. As I've mentioned earlier it makes a change from the normal CYOA fare, half-expected time travel and sci-fi about the future and aliens which I could find boring even reading as a kid.