Board Game Review: Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Case 6: The Mummy’s Curse

Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective is a solo or co-op board game that is ideally played by 1-4 players. It takes place in Victorian London (the 1880s-1890s) and you are trying to solve mysteries alongside Sherlock Holmes and his faithful companion, Dr. Watson. The goal is supposedly to beat Holmes – solve the mystery with fewer clues than he does – but the real fun is if you follow all the clues, and get a picture of the entire mystery, including the parts Holmes doesn’t touch upon.

I previously reviewed the first five cases in this collection: The Munitions Magnate, The Tin Soldier, The Mystified Murderess, The Lionized Lions and The Cryptic Corpse.

The sixth case is called The Mummy’s Curse.

What I liked about this case was, of course, the reference to mummies. Victorian England was mesmerized by the archeological digs occurring in Egypt, where sarcophagus after sarcophagus was uncovered. Several mummies were transported to the British Museum, where the Londoners could gawk at them, and some wealthy Londoners even had mummies in their own homes! How ghastly and how perfectly Victorian.

Either way, this case opens with the murder of not one, not two, but three archeologists involved in the investigation of the final resting place of Katabet. Most of the initial information comes from The Times, where we are directed to by Dr. Watson, who is more than a little annoyed that The Times is talking about a presumed Mummy’s Curse – as if such a preposterous thing could exist! In order to set the record straight, Dr. Watson wants us to uncover the identity of the murderer.

Although I instantly liked the theme and loved following the clues in this case, unfortunately in the end, the case was a tad disappointing. It made a great start: murder on a ship, so the culprit certainly has to be on board of the ship. Starting from there, it was a matter of crossing off potential candidates from the list. But then came the big reveal and… Holmes’ culprit wasn’t the one we had in mind.

Don’t read on if you don’t want any spoilers for this case. I repeat: don’t continue if you want to avoid spoilers.

All right, spoiler time. The murderer indicated by Holmes has zero motive. Fine, maybe he has a flimsy motive, but it’s so flimsy you could blow it away. Based on Holmes’ version of events, there is more than one murderer, and I had only pecked the last murderer as the culprit – and this for all three crimes. Because if murderer number one is involved, why is there a bowl of ashes next to victim two, a fact pointed out in detail during the investigation? What does this have to do with anything? Plus, murderer number two is clearly unhinged; he has the physical strength to commit the murders. And why does Holmes rely on a newspaper article written by the culprit himself – that’s a lot of faith to have in a murderer…

Anyway, after investigating online, I discovered that in the original version of this game, there is only one murderer: the one we had chosen. The bowl of ashes actually makes sense here, and the motive is much clearer. I understand trying to change the narrative to make the case more challenging, but this should be done in a consistent way: a clearer motive should have been established for murderer numbero uno, and the bowl should not have received that much attention in relation to victim two.

Still, this remains one of my favorite cases in the collection because of its subject matter, and we had great fun trying to solve the mystery.

If you like Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, then I recommend…

A Study in Shifters (The Adventures of Marisol Holmes Book 1)

“The game is afoot.”

Seventeen-year-old Marisol Holmes wants to live up to the family legacy; after all, she is the great-great-great granddaughter of Sherlock Holmes. What’s more Holmesian than a grisly murder? The Conclave, an underground organization of detectives solving supernatural cases, is giving her just one chance to catch a killer and join them. After all, as a half-blood jaguar shifter, Marisol is uniquely qualified to solve this murder—since every scrap of evidence points toward the culprit being a fellow jaguar shifter.

“There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.”

There’s more to this than just evidence. Is one of her own people really involved, or is this all a ploy to kick Marisol’s mother off the shifter throne?

When Marisol discovers her handsome best friend, Roan, is missing, she realizes Roan may be the killer’s next target. The stakes just got higher than political intrigue.

“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

Just when things couldn’t get worse, Marisol’s ex-boyfriend-turned-nemesis, Mannix, starts leaving sinister clues for her. In her last case, Mannix broke her heart and ruined her case, and Marisol isn’t sure which is worse. Marisol fears this case too might be far more personal than she could’ve imagined.

“Elementary.”

It’s time for Marisol to prove her worth, or her people could fall into chaos while her best friend loses his life.

This book is perfect for fans of: shapeshifters, steampunk, paranormal, high school drama, teen romance, Sherlock Holmes and deadly intrigue.

Purchase from Amazon.