History Literature / MurderAtColefaxManor

* ChooseYourOwnAdventure: One that fits in the same sort of genre as Creator/AgathaChristie.

* FunetikAksent: The gamekeeper Warren McFadyen has a strong West Country accent.

''Murder at Colefax Manor'' is a ChooseYourOwnAdventure gamebook written by S.C. Cunningham. Set in the remote southwest of [[UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain 19th Century England]], the reader takes on the role of a [[UsefulNotes/BritishCoppers police constable]] who must explore the titular manor and solve the mystery of who committed the grisly deed.

!!''Murder at Colefax Manor'' provides examples of the following tropes:

The book features a basic roleplaying system in that the player can collect clues and useful items, along with needing to occasionally tick reference boxes at the end of the book, and possesses several endings, although [[ShrugOfGod the author leaves it vague as to which ending he considers the best ending]].

While the book is available as a paperback on Amazon, it has also been released by the author as a free PDF available [[https://goo.gl/7IlMZf here]].

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Asides from TheManyDeathsOfYou: you can find the cult, report it to your superiors, and conduct a raid, only for the police to come up with no evidence against Lord Colefax, which leads you to get counter-sued, which in turn leads to you ending up jobless and penniless on the street, with no-one believing your story.]]

* GeniusBonus: [[spoiler: Those familiar with classical music will recognize that the pieces of sheet music on Lord Colefax's piano are about death (the murder), punishment from a god (sacrifices to Legrys Mor), and a sea cave (an important location towards the end of the book). The door signs in the caverns and Legrys Mor's name are both untranslated Cornish.]]

* TheManyDeathsOfYou: As to be expected from a gamebook. Includes being: [[spoiler: absorbed into an EldritchAbomination, crushed by a collapsing cliff, drowned at sea with an anchor tied to your feet, falling down a long set of stone steps, falling over and splitting your head open, left to starve in a jail cell, pushed off a balcony, pushed off a cliff, shot, stabbed, smashed against rocks in a turbulent sea, and tortured to death.]]

* WhatAnIdiot:
** [[spoiler:If you attempt to re-examine the box of dynamite after just lighting one of the fuses, the book calls you out on how stupid it is to do so. Overlaps with BlackComedy.]]
** [[spoiler:You similarly get criticised if you choose to light the shortest fuse.]]

* TheButlerDidIt: [[spoiler:Amazingly, this is played straight and quite literally, although the butler was acting on the behest of [[AristocratsAreEvil his master]].]]
* TheManyDeathsOfYou: As to be expected from a gamebook. Includes being: [[spoiler: absorbed into an EldritchAbomination, crushed by a collapsing cliff, drowned at sea with an anchor tied to your feet, falling down a long set of stone steps, falling over and splitting your head open, left to starve in a jail cell, pushed off a balcony, pushed off a cliff, shot, stabbed, smashed against rocks in a turbulent sea, and tortured to death.]]

* [[spoiler:AristocratsAreEvil]]: [[spoiler:Lord Colefax to a 'T'.]]
* [[spoiler:BittersweetEnding]]: [[spoiler:If you set off the dynamite with the long fuse in the caverns, it will end up destroying both the cavern and the manor on top of it. While the deadly cult has been stopped and its leader killed, you have no evidence to prove what really happened, and so are unable to get any of the praise deserved for the duty you performed. [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse It is also not made clear if Colefax's innocent maid, Gladys Prismall, managed to escape the manor in time, although she logically died along with the rest of the staff.]]]]
* [[UsefulNotes/BritishCoppers British Coppers]]: You play one, named Police Constable Stanley Barns.

* [[spoiler:DarkSecret]]: [[spoiler:The manor is the base of a cult for an EldritchAbomination and all but one of the manor's staff are in on it.]]

* [[spoiler:DownerEnding]]: [[spoiler:Asides from TheManyDeathsOfYou: you can find the cult, report it to your superiors, and conduct a raid, only for the police to come up with no evidence against Lord Colefax, which leads you to get counter-sued, which in turn leads to you ending up jobless and penniless on the street, with no-one believing your story.]]
* [[spoiler:EldritchAbomination]]: [[spoiler:Beneath the secret cavern's temple is a chamber contains just such an abomination named Legrys Mor, which is described as having the form of "an amorphous mass of undulating, inky blackness" with "thick, slimy tendrils" supporting it above the heart of a whirlpool. Depending on the ending, it can be seen escaping out to sea if the manor is destroyed.]]

* [[spoiler:FateWorseThanDeath]]: [[spoiler:What befalls Gladys Prismall if she gets sentenced.]]

* [[spoiler:GoldenEnding]]: [[spoiler:If you find the evidence in the caverns and don't set off the dynamite, Lord Colefax and his associates end up arrested, the cult is revealed to the public, you achieve nation-wide fame, and you are promoted to chief inspector!]]

* [[spoiler:OutsideGenreFoe]]: [[spoiler:Legrys Mor, a [[LovecraftianTropes Lovecraftian]] EldritchAbomination inside an otherwise fairly normal murder mystery.]]

* [[spoiler:PlotTwist]]: [[spoiler:The reveal of Legrys Mor and the cult's plans to bomb the fictional Cornish city of Redford.]]

* [[spoiler:PoliceAreUseless]]: [[spoiler:[[PlayingWithATrope Played with]]. While the chief inspector is reasonable, the player can decide to be one by deciding to arrest any of the cast without having any evidence or proof as to if they committed or were complicate in the murder.]]
* [[spoiler:RealityHasNoSubtitles]]: [[spoiler:None of the Cornish door signs in the caverns are translated.]]
* [[spoiler:ReligionOfEvil]]: [[spoiler:In the caverns beneath Colefax Manor, the player can uncover a hedonistic cult centered around an EldritchAbomination.]]

* [[spoiler: StuffBlowingUp]]: [[spoiler: The fate of the manor in the BittersweetEnding.]]
* [[spoiler:TheButlerDidIt]]: [[spoiler:Amazingly, this is played straight and quite literally, although the butler was acting on the behest of [[AristocratsAreEvil his master]].]]

* [[spoiler:WhatAnIdiot]]: [[spoiler:If you attempt to re-examine the box of dynamite after just lighting one of the fuses, the book calls you out on how stupid it is to do so. Overlaps with BlackComedy.]]

'''''Murder at Colefax Manor''''' is a ChooseYourOwnAdventure gamebook written by S.C. Cunningham. Set in the remote southwest of [[UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain 19th Century England]], the reader takes on the role of a [[UsefulNotes/BritishCoppers police constable]] who must explore the titular manor and solve the mystery of who committed the grisly deed.

* [[spoiler:OutsideContextVillain]]: [[spoiler:Legrys Mor, a [[LovecraftianTropes Lovecraftian]] EldritchAbomination inside an otherwise fairly normal murder mystery.]]

* GeniusBonus: [[spoiler: Those familiar with classical music will recognize that sheet music on Lord Colefax's piano relate to death, punishment from a god, and a sea cave, the latter of which is an important location towards the end of the book. The door signs in the caverns and Legrys Mor's name are both untranslated Cornish.]]

* [[spoiler:GoldenEnding]: [[spoiler:If you find the evidence in the caverns and don't set off the dynamite, Lord Colefax and his associates end up arrested, the cult is revealed to the public, you achieve nation-wide fame, and you are promoted to chief inspector!]]

!!'Murder at Colefax Manor'' provides examples of the following tropes:

* FunetikAksent: The gamekeeper, Warren McFadyen, has a strong West Country accent.

* ChooseYourOwnAdventure: One that fits in the same sort of genre as Creator/AgathaChristie

The book features a basic roleplaying system in that the player can collect clues and useful items, along with needing to occasionally tick reference boxes at the end of the book, and possesses several 'good' endings, although [[ShrugOfGod the author has left it vague as to which ending is considered the best ending]].

* [[spoiler:TooDumbToLive]]: [[spoiler:If you attempt to re-examine the box of dynamite after just lighting one of the fuses, the book calls you out on how stupid it is to do so. Overlaps with BlackComedy.]]

* TheManyDeathsOfYou: As to be expected from a gamebook. Includes being: [[spoiler: absorbed into an EldritchAbomination, crushed by a collapsing cliff, drowned at sea with an anchor tied to your feet, falling down a long set of stone steps, falling over and splitting your head open, left to starve in a jail cell, pushed off a balcony, pushed off a cliff, shot, stabbed, smashed against rocks in a turbulant sea, and tortured to death.]]

* [[spoiler:Bittersweet Ending]]: [[spoiler:If you set off the dynamite with the long fuse in the caverns, it will end up destroying both the cavern and the manor on top of it. While the deadly cult has been stopped and its leader killed, you have no evidence to prove what really happened, and so are unable to get any of the praise deserved for the duty you performed. [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse It is also not made clear if Colefax's innocent maid, Gladys Prismall, managed to escape the manor in time, although she logically died along with the rest of the staff.]]]]

* [[spoiler:Cult]]: [[spoiler:In the caverns beneath Colefax Manor, the player can uncover a hedonistic cult centered around an EldritchAbomination.]]

* Second-PersonNarration

* UsefulNotes/BritishCoppers: You play one, named Police Constable Stanley Barns.

* Detective Drama: Although PC Barns is not technically a detective.

* Second-Person Narration

* [[spoiler:PlotTwist]]: [[spoiler:The reveal of Legrys Mor and the cult's plans to bomb the fictional Cornish city of Redford.]]

* [[spoiler:DownerEnding]]: [[spoiler:Asides from TheManyDeathsOfYou: you can find the cult, report it to your superiors, and conduct a raid, only for the police to come up with no evidence against Lord Colefax, which leads you to get counter-sued, which in turn leads to you ending up jobless and penniless on the street, with no-one believing your story.

* GeniusBonus: [[spoiler: Those familiar with classical music will recognize that sheet music on Lord Colefax's piano relate to death, punishment from a god, and a sea cave, the latter of which is an important location towards the end of the book. The door signs in the caverns and Legrys Mor's name are both untranslated Cornish.]

* [[spoiler: StuffBlowingUp]]: [[spoiler: The fate of the manor in the BittersweetEnding. Also the fate of the player if they light the medium-length dynamite fuse or [[LudicrousGibs if they light the smallest dynamite fuse]].

* [[spoiler:TooDumbToLive]]: [[spoiler:If you attempt to re-examine the box of dynamite after just lighting one of the fuzes, the book calls you out on how stupid it is to do so. Overlaps with BlackComedy.]]

* [[spoilerBittersweet Ending]]: [[spoiler:If you set off the dynamite with the long fuse in the caverns, it will end up destroying both the cavern and the manor on top of it. While the deadly cult has been stopped and its leader killed, you have no evidence to prove what really happened, and so are unable to get any of the praise deserved for the duty you performed. [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse It is also not made clear if Colefax's innocent maid, Gladys Prismall, managed to escape the manor in time, although she logically died along with the rest of the staff.]]]]

* [[spoiler:DownerEnding]]: [[spoiler:Asides from TheManyDeathsOfYou: you can find the cult, report it to your superiors, and conduct a raid, only for the police to come up with no evidence against Lord Colefax, which leads you to get countersued, which in turn leads to you ending up jobless and penniless on the street, with no-one believing your story.

* GeniusBonus: [[spoiler: Those familiar with classical music will recognise that sheet music on Lord Colefax's piano relate to death, punishment from a god, and a sea cave, the latter of which is an important location towards the end of the book. The door signs in the caverns and Legrys Mor's name are both untranslated Cornish.]

* [[spoiler:PoliceAreUseless]]: [[spoiler:[[PlayingWithATrope Played with]]. While the chief inspector is reasonable, the player can decide to be one by deciding to arrest any of the cast without having any evidence or proof as to if they committed or were complicite in the murder.]]

* TheManyDeathsOfYou: As to be expected from a gamebook. Includes being: [[spoiler: absorbed into an EldritchAbomination, crushed by a collapsing cliff, drowned at sea with an anchor tied to your feet, falling down a long set of stone steps, falling over and splitting your head open, left to starve in a jail cell, pushed off a balcony, pushed off a cliff, shot, stabbed, smashed against rocks in a turbulant sea, tortured to death,