James Patterson: Women’s Murder Club – A Darker Shade of Grey (2007)

A group of female crime investigators must solve the mystery surrounding the death of a cadet from a prestigious Southern military academy.

The game combines elements from the adventure and hidden object genres. Most of the time, the screen shows an interactive location with a tab on the left side containing the player character portrait, a hint button that can be used five times per chapter, a notepad of actions and objectives, score points, inventory, and buttons to review clues, exit the scene, or go to the main menu.

Most locations involve collecting evidence by clicking on shimmering spots, which open an interactive zoom window. Some of these windows are separate puzzles that use inventory items, while others require finding several instances of an object. A recurring forensic lab puzzle has the player analyse substances collected from the crime scene on a separate screen.

Several locations also have unique puzzles, such as matching flowers to tombstones in the cemetery and sorting balls on the sports field. These puzzles can be skipped with the hint button.