Morgue Scalpel

Lore & Background

The weapon is a knife shaped like a scalpel but with a serrated blade. It was used to kill a young actress, Sarah Carroway, outside a theatre in the Mayfair area of London in November 1888. Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard initially believes the murder is another strike by Jack the Ripper, but Sherlock Holmes is convinced someone else committed the crime because of the unusual nature of the knife. The investigation into this serrated scalpel takes Holmes and Dr. Watson to many parts of late 19th century London, including a perfume shop, the zoological gardens, the morgue, a pub, Scotland Yard, Surrey Commercial Docks, Savoy Street Pier, St Pancras railway station, and 221B Baker Street.

In Their Own Story

In November 1888, Sherlock Holmes is engaged by Inspector Lestrade to help with the murder investigation of a young actress, Sarah Carroway. She was killed outside a theatre in the Mayfair area of London. Lestrade thinks the manner of her death shows that this is another strike by Jack the Ripper, but Holmes believes someone else committed the crime. It appears that the victim was killed with an unusual knife, one shaped like a scalpel but with a serrated blade. The investigation takes Holmes and Dr. Watson to many parts of late 19th century London, including a perfume shop, the zoological gardens, the morgue, a pub, Scotland Yard, Surrey Commercial Docks, Savoy Street Pier, St Pancras railway station, and of course 221B Baker Street. They encounter a number of characters connected to the case and also get assistance from Inspector Gregson, the leader of the Baker Street Irregulars named Wiggins, and the invaluable tracking dog Toby.

Reader's Guide

The Morgue Scalpel is a key piece of evidence in the investigation. The player moves around London via an elaborate overview map. Additional locations become available when Holmes finds additional leads. In each location, the player can select nine different verbal options to interact with objects or people. When accessing the inventory menu, the player has three different verbal actions to manipulate any items Holmes has picked up. When talking to people, Holmes has different dialogue options to gain information or try to get their cooperation. Dr. Watson can give his views, which may serve as puzzle hints. He may even help Holmes to perform an action he cannot do alone. Dr. Watson's journal also references the events in the gameplay. The graphics are VGA, with MIDI music and a few scenes with digitalized speech (in the intro and end sequence, and the cutscene at St Pancras Station). In the other scenes there are sound effects, but no speech. The player interacts with the characters through a command menu with verb icons that is intuitive for anyone who had played other adventure games of the period.

Did You Know?

• The serrated scalpel is the murder weapon in The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel, a 1992 adventure game developed by Mythos Software and published by Electronic Arts.
• The game was released for MS-DOS in 1992 and for 3DO in 1994.
• A sequel, The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Rose Tattoo, was developed and published by the same companies in 1996.
• The 3DO version of the game features full voiced dialogue and clips with filmed actors, with Sherlock Holmes played by David Ian Davies and Dr. Watson played by Laurie Main.
• The Case of the Serrated Scalpel sold over 100,000 units.