Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy

A complete walkthrough for Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy, played on the Junior Detective difficulty. Nancy arrives in Ireland for Kyler Mallory’s wedding to find the groom missing, a banshee in the local folklore and an inventor’s secrets under the castle. Senior Detective solutions are collected at the end.

A note on versions

This guide was translated from a Russian localisation, so one puzzle needed rebuilding rather than translating: the five-letter code for the tower secretary comes from riddles printed in the library books, and the Russian release uses different books, working on Russian words and yielding Cyrillic letters. The English release’s own books, riddles, letters and code are given below in their place, checked against published English walkthroughs. The save folder is also named after the English title. Everything else applies to any version.

Before you start

• Read the book What every detective should know to get to grips with the game’s features.
• Read the case materials in the folder on the desk all the way through.
• Also take the phone card and the wedding invitation from the desk. To begin, click the plane ticket, also on the desk.
• The main interaction icons sit along the bottom. All movement directions are given from the point of view of someone sitting at the monitor, unless stated otherwise.
• Hints come from a fortune-telling machine in the castle and are paid for with special tokens. The inventory works as in previous games.
• Active spots in night-time locations are highlighted in blue.
• You can save manually at almost any point. Saves live in your Documents folder, in a subfolder named after the game.

Achievements

Optional, with no effect on the investigation. Names are translated back from the Russian, so exact wording on the English release may differ.

• Pilot — for deft handling of the jetpack.
• Chemist — for careful handling of chemical elements.
• Puppeteer — for arranging the dolls in the dolls’ house quickly.
• Eagle Eye — for completing every level of the Sharp-Eyed Detective game.
• Easter Egg — for uncovering secrets.
• Fortune’s Favourite — for a passion for predictions.
• Mistress of Leprechauns — for genuine interest in the garden statues.
• Publisher — for professional handling of the printing press.
• Stylist — for masterful sheep shearing.
• Sleuth — for giving Kyler every piece of evidence.
• Barman — for mixing all the cocktails quickly.
• Test Conqueror — for answering the quiz question correctly.

Around Castle Malloy

The Banshee’s Cry pub

After the opening video, move forward across the bridge using the cursor keys or the left mouse button. To steer with the mouse, hold the left button and move it ahead of the character.

Cross the stone bridge and stop in front of the castle’s massive front door, highlighted in blue. Press Enter or left-click the highlight. Knock on the door, then pull the ring. Nobody seems glad you are here, so you will have to find somewhere to sleep. Zoom out and walk down the screen to the Pub signpost.

Click the signpost and you arrive at the Banshee’s Cry pub. Go forward and note the notice on the wall: No vacancies. Go inside and turn right. Look at the photographs on the wall, a nod from the developers to Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice.

Go to the game machines and click the little coin-return window on each one. A couple of clover tokens end up in your purse. There is nothing else to do here, so turn around and leave. You need to go back to the castle and try to meet your friend.

The bridge

From the pub, walk to the bridge and click the highlighted active spot on the blue arch to reach it. Pick up the rag doll of a groom with a ring around its neck. Carry on across the bridge towards the castle and click the highlighted gates.

At the castle door

Approach the castle gates and look at the left screen. Find the active spot and pick up some stones from the ground. Take the largest stone, aim, and throw it at the window.

You can break the window by throwing the largest stone hard, or throw all the stones you collected without any damage to the old castle’s property. Either way you see Kyler’s silhouette at the window, waving and inviting you to the door.

Castle Malloy

The library: Kyler, and the Tower of Hanoi

Knock again, then talk to your friend about everything.

Things look bad: the wedding is close and the groom has vanished. Kyler insists Matt’s disappearance is just one of his stupid pranks, but asks you to find him anyway. She tells you about her manager, Donal Delany, who is fanatically devoted to all things Irish, and mentions that Matt’s best friend Keith Foley is staying at the castle.

You also learn about the inventor Brendan Malloy, brother of Mallory’s grandfather. Agree to help and do everything you can. Afterwards, head for the bookshelves.

Puzzle: the Tower of Hanoi

On the bottom shelf is an unlit lantern next to discs on the left peg. Move every disc from the left peg to the right one, never placing a larger disc on a smaller one. This is the classic Tower of Hanoi.

Number the discs 1 to 5 from top to bottom, so 1 is smallest and 5 is the largest at the base. Call the pegs L (left), M (middle) and R (right). One valid sequence:

1-R, 2-M, 1-M, 3-R, 1-L, 2-R, 1-R, 4-M, 1-M, 2-L, 1-L, 3-M, 1-R, 2-M, 1-M, 5-R, 1-R, 2-L, 1-L, 3-R, 1-R, 2-M, 1-M, 3-L, 1-R, 2-L, 1-L, 4-R, 1-R, 2-M, 1-M, 3-R, 1-L, 2-R, 1-R

Once the discs are moved, the lantern charges and you take it with you.

Save point: lantern charged.

The books and the scales

Go back to where Kyler is sitting and approach the bookshelves. On the left unit, second shelf from the top, take the book Constellations of the Zodiac. Take it from your inventory and read it; you need it later, so page through to the end and put it away.

Go to the table with the scales, open the drawer and study the card giving the weight of each weight.

Important: until you have looked at that card, the weight on the wedding table in the fireplace hall stays inactive.

Go out into the corridor through the door on the left. Step forward and go through the door on the left into the nursery.

The nursery

You watch a crow knock coloured mosaic pieces off the panel on the wall. Go to the bookshelves and click the casket on the shelf.

Puzzle: the otter casket

The lid shows coloured otters. The inscriptions round the edge tell you that left-click moves tiles and right-click rotates them. Assemble the picture. One valid sequence:

• Swap tiles 8 and 9.
• Swap tiles 9 and 1.
• Swap tiles 2 and 3.
• Rotate tile 4 once, to complete the blue otter.
• Rotate tile 1 twice, to complete the violet otter.
• Rotate tile 7 once, to complete the ginger otter.
• Rotate tile 8 three times, to complete the blue and ginger otters.
• Rotate tile 9 twice, to complete the green otter.
• Rotate tile 6 three times, to complete the green and violet otters.
• Rotate tile 3 twice, to complete the violet otter.
• Rotate tile 2 three times, to line up the remaining otters.

You hear a click and the casket opens.

Save point: casket cache open.

Take the gear (1 of 2) from the cache. Zoom out and turn right.

By the fireplace, on the floor to the right, pick up a piece of mosaic. Look up at the coloured panel. You cannot assemble it yet, because the bird has evidently carried several pieces off.

To the left of the fireplace, pick up the broken glasses from the floor.

Turn left twice, click the rocking horse and pick up the token that falls out.

Go to the dressing table and look at the book on the shelf below the mirror. To the left is the dolls’ house.

Puzzle: the dolls’ house, first arrangement

Arrange the dolls as the instruction on the left says:

• Put the pig to the right of the horse.
• Put the cow above the pig.
• Put the cat to the right of the knight and to the left of the horse.
• Put the dark-haired girl doll, who looks like George, on the ground floor below the cat.
• Put the blonde girl doll, who looks like Bess, between the knights.

Press the red Check button and receive a token.

Leave the nursery and turn left. Go straight along the corridor, and at the steps of the ruined staircase leading to the tower, turn right. Go down the stairs into the fireplace hall.

The fireplace hall: Keith and Madame Isabella

By the lit fireplace, on the floor to the right, find a photograph of Kyler and Keith with their arms around each other. Talk to Keith Foley, who is convinced Matt simply ran away from Kyler. Keith talks a great deal about everything except the origin of his black eye.

Turn around and go to the Madame Isabella machine. To the right of it, pick up another token from the floor. Click the machine’s coin slot; your tokens go in automatically. Take the weight (1 of 2) and read the advice.

Go to the large table already laid with the wedding china and take another weight (2 of 2) from the top.

The library: the scales

Return to the library and go to the table with the scales. You have to balance all three pans by putting three weights on each.

Puzzle: the scales

Open the table drawer and look at the card giving each weight. The arithmetic is simple: each set of three has to total 100.

• First pan: brass 45, copper 47, ironwood 8.
• Second pan: silver 55, iron 40, mahogany 5.
• Third pan: zinc 37, lead 60, oak 3.

As soon as the scales balance, a cache opens below. Take the missing tile for the stone panel you saw on the bridge.

Turn around, go to Kyler and talk to her. She asks you to repair the old printing press in the fireplace hall so she can print the wedding invitations. Agree, and go down.

The fireplace hall: the printing press

Go to the printing press, to the right of the table you took the weight from. From the lower compartment, take the yellow metal plate (1 of 4).

Printing the invitations

Take the black ink and flood the plate to the left of the wheel with it. Pull a blank sheet of paper from the compartment where you found the metal plate. Lay the paper on the inked plate and turn the wheel.

To the left of the wheel, take the printed invitation. Put it on the right-hand drying unit by the press and press the red button.

Take the printed and dried invitation and try to put it in the basket. Read it, and note that the best man is not Keith Foley at all, but Alan Payne. Put the invitation in the basket above. Spoiled invitations can be dropped in the green bin on the right.

Print two more invitations and put them in the basket. Kyler’s request is done.

Turn around and head for the castle’s main doors, to the left of the Madame Isabella machine. Open them and go out into the yard. Note the light spilling from the upper tower window.

The bridge: the stone panel

Go to the arch and click the bridge. Study the stone panel on the left column. Look right: you have to reproduce the same panel on the second column, sliding tiles as in a fifteen puzzle.

Puzzle: the sliding panel

Number the puzzle positions 1 to 16. One valid sequence:

2 down, 1 right, 5 up, 9 up, 13 up, 14 left, 10 down, 11 left, 12 left, 16 up, 15 right, 14 right, 10 down, 6 down, 7 left, 11 up, 10 right, 9 right, 13 up, 14 left, 15 left, 11 down, 10 right, 14 up, 13 right, 9 down, 5 down, 6 left, 2 down, 3 left, 7 up, 8 left, 4 down, 3 right, 7 up, 6 right, 2 down, 3 left, 7 up, 6 right, 5 right, 1 down, 2 left, 3 left, 4 left, 8 up, 7 right, 3 down, 4 left, 8 up, 7 right, 11 up, 12 left, 8 down, 4 down, 3 right, 2 right, 1 right, 5 up, 6 left, 7 left

Insert the missing tile into the completed panel.

Save point: bridge panel assembled.

Click the cache that opens and take the steel plate (2 of 4). Zoom out.

The pub: the phone box and the cocktails

Head for the pub. Beside it is a telephone box; go in. Put your phone card in the slot, lift the receiver and click the number you want, which dials automatically. Call your friends and Ned. Finish up, leave the box and go into the pub.

Try to talk to Donal, but the caretaker will not speak to you until he has his cocktail, a Crow’s Nest. A cocktail it is, then.

How the bar works

You end up behind the bar, where the rules are explained. To find a recipe you do not need to leaf frantically through the recipe book: just click the picture of the cocktail on the bar. To mix one, look at the recipe, then press the button for each juice as many times as the book specifies.

If a cocktail needs blending, the recipe shows a blender. Put the solid ingredients in the blender first, then add the mixed juices, press the red button and blend. Pour the finished cocktail into the correct glass, which you take from under the bar. Stand the empty glass on the grey mat and pour the cocktail from the blender into it. If no blending is needed, stand the correct empty glass on the grey mat and pour in the contents of the mixing glass, then add the remaining ingredients from the recipe.

When two cocktails are ready on the tray above, press the bell on the right of the bar and the barman takes the order away. Start with the orders nearest the bell and work left. A spoiled cocktail goes in the bin under the bar on the right.

The recipes

Crow’s Nest

• Four measures of orange juice.
• One measure of cherry juice.
• One measure of tomato juice.
• Take the glass with a handle and stand it on the grey tray.
• Pour in the contents of the silver mixing glass.
• Add ice.
• Put a slice of lime on top.
• Place it on the order tray.

Bog Slime

• One measure of tomato juice.
• One measure of kiwi juice.
• Eight measures of milk.
• Take the correct glass from under the counter and stand it on the grey tray.
• Pour in the juice from the silver mixing glass.
• Place it on the order tray.

Magic Potion

• Two measures of pineapple juice.
• Four measures of soda water.
• Take one strawberry and put it in the blender.
• Add two scoops of ice cream to the blender.
• Pour the juice from the silver mixing glass into the blender.
• Press the red button, blend, and pour into the short glass you have already stood on the grey mat.

Green Island

• Three measures of pineapple juice.
• One measure of kiwi juice.
• Two measures of soda water.
• Pour the contents into the cocktail glass.

Old Castle

• Soda water twice.
• Add lemonade.
• Orange juice twice.
• Take the cocktail glass, pour in the contents of the silver mixing glass and add crushed ice.

Whirlpool

• One measure of tomato juice.
• Four measures of pineapple juice.
• Four measures of cherry juice.
• One measure of lemonade.
• Pour the contents into the tall glass.
• Add crushed ice.
• Drop in a cherry.

Beer

Stand the silver glass under the beer keg and press the icon for the beer named in the order. Take the tankard with a handle, stand it on the grey mat and pour the beer in from the silver glass. Put the tankard on the order tray.

For the achievement, and for your own budget, go behind the bar several times and mix the orders quickly. You can do this on every visit to the pub.

With the cocktails made and your tips collected, talk to the caretaker again. This time Donal is more talkative, though his account tangles the case further. You learn that the inventor Brendan had a small daughter, Fiona, who also vanished after the explosion at the castle. Donal plainly believes every word of it. Finish the conversation and head for the game machines on the right.

The arcade machines

Sharp-Eyed Detective

Drop a token in the slot and play. You have to find twelve differences within a time limit, so save before you start so you can replay it. As a prize you get a whistle, which you take from the prize machine’s niche.

Save point: whistle won.

For the achievement you have to complete nine more difference-finding levels. Skip them if achievements do not interest you.

SuperDarts

Drop a token in the machine next door. This is not ordinary darts where you score as much as possible: in SuperDarts you score as little as possible, because points hit are subtracted from the number shown on the right. You have to finish on exactly 000, and every dart must be used, including the one in your hand.

Take the darts from the lower slot. To throw, place the dart in the right position and left-click.

The prize is a blue dog doll, or possibly a rabbit, which you also take from the prize machine.

Save point: blue dog doll won.

Easter egg 1

Go back to the SuperDarts machine, drop in a token and play. The task is the same, finishing on zero, but with an added condition: first hit the centre of the board four times, then throw three darts that miss the board entirely, and finally hit the 1. Shoot successfully and take the Easter egg from the prize machine.

Save point: first egg received.

Back to the castle

Return to the castle. Talk to Keith first, then go up to the library to talk to Kyler. She dictates Alan Payne’s phone number, which goes into your directory automatically.

The leprechaun garden

Go down, leave the castle and go through to the left screen. Move left until you reach an active spot shaped like a semicircular arch. Click it and you enter a small garden. Open the gate and go forward. Toy leprechauns stand there, though you do not yet know what to do with them.

Watch the busy crow hiding something behind the lattice fence on the right. Turn around and look at the garden bench. Take the letter from it and read it: a draft of Kyler’s wedding vows. Worth asking her about.

The pub: calling Alan Payne

Leave the leprechaun garden and return to the central path. Go to the pub and into the telephone box. Put your card in the slot and call Alan Payne. Afterwards, return to the castle.

The fireplace hall: the seating plan

Talk to Keith, then agree to help him with the guest seating plan, following the instructions written in the margin on the left.

Puzzle: the seating plan

Take the seating plan from your inventory and use the left mouse button to move the name cards to their proper places. As you work, note that some of the guests’ names are familiar from earlier games in the series.

Finish and zoom out. Talk to Keith again and tell him the work is done. In thanks he gives you the book Ancient Irish Poems.

Go to the fortune machine, click the coin slot, ask Madame Isabella a question and get your answer.

The leprechaun garden: turning the statues

Go to Kyler in the library, talk to her, then leave the castle and head for the leprechaun garden.

Open the book Keith gave you and read it. Note that the verses are separated by clover leaves, and that each statue also has clover leaves on its chest.

Puzzle: the leprechaun statues

Turn each statue in the direction the dark clover petal in the book indicates. The highlighted first letter of each verse is another hint, encoding the directions right, left, forward and back.

• First statue: turn three times.
• Second statue: turn once.
• Third statue: turn twice.
• Fourth statue: leave alone.
• Fifth statue: turn three times.
• Sixth statue: turn twice.
• Seventh statue: leave alone.

With every statue turned correctly you hear a click and the garden gate beside you swings open.

Behind the gate is the crow’s nest, where the industrious bird has piled the things it stole from the castle. Empty the hoard into your inventory: a doll that looks like Kyler, two tokens, and the three missing coloured glass pieces for the nursery panel.

The nursery: the rainbow panel

Return to the castle, discuss your questions with Keith, and go to the nursery. Go to the panel by the fireplace.

Puzzle: the rainbow panel

Take the coloured stones from your inventory and set them in their places in the panel. Note the rainbow colours above the panel, except that they run in reverse order. You know the correct order of a rainbow, so press the stones in that order: red, orange, yellow, green, light blue, blue, violet.

You hear a door open. Zoom out and go into the hidden room behind the fireplace. It is a disappointment: nobody is hiding in there.

Pick up the large wooden board by the wall, turn around and take the sheet of paper from the floor. Leave the hidden room and you are attacked without warning.

Watch a short video, after which you are in the library. Calm Kyler down and go down to the fireplace hall. Talk to Keith and leave the castle.

Crossing the bog

Turn left, walk past the garden gate and round it. Go forward a little and turn left. Reach the flower bed and examine it; there is nothing of interest yet, but note the yellow flower and remember this place.

From the bed, move down, keeping to the left, until you reach the bog. Click the blue active zone and try to go forward. Take the board from your inventory and lay it across the stream, then cross.

The outline of the stone on the left looks familiar. Take out the paper you found in the hidden room and study it. These are not ordinary stones but markers for crossing the bog without sinking. The number of small stones beside a large stone tells you how many paces to take, and their position relative to that stone tells you which direction. Start counting from the stone you stopped at after crossing the stream. One left-click on a direction arrow is one pace.

The bog route

• One forward, one right, two forward.
• Two right, two forward, four left.
• Two back, two left, three back.
• Two left, one forward, one left.
• Two forward, one right, two forward.
• Two right, two forward, one right.
• One forward. You arrive at the cottage beyond the bog.

Save point: bog crossing complete.

The cottage beyond the bog

Go in and look right. Take the lid off the large wicker basket and take out the jetpack. A good find, and one you will certainly use.

Go forward and note the cage with midges circling it. Those need dealing with.

Go to the table on the left and leaf through the book Medicinal Herbs. At the end you find a recipe for a mixture that gets rid of insects. Remember the names; you need them now. Every herb is already here, and so is a mortar.

Puzzle: the insect repellent

Take one part each of: tansy, fleabane, wormwood, catmint and thyme. Put all the parts in the mortar, then click the pestle to grind them. Take the resulting mixture and turn to the cage of midges.

Put the mixture in the cage and the midges vanish as if by magic. Take the lens from the cage.

Go to the table on the right and take the dolls’ house diagram from the top. Look at the casket on the table, which you cannot open yet. Leave the cottage and go forward; you end up on the other side of the bog automatically.

The graveyard: the three crosses

Go right until you see the graveyard gates on your right. Go in and examine the three Celtic crosses.

Put the lens in the centre of the left cross, dated 1801. Click the lens and note the symbol you see. Zoom out; the lens returns to your inventory automatically.

Now put the lens in the centre of the right cross, dated 1845, and note the second symbol.

Then put it in the centre of the middle cross, dated 1916, and note the third. Zoom out.

The pasture wall

Leave the graveyard and go right until you come to a stone wall. Press the stones bearing those same symbols, in the order you saw them at the graveyard, and a passage opens.

The pasture

Go through the passage and you are on a sheep pasture. Walk up the screen and you find a barn. Go to the barn doors and look left at the Tibetan bells; click them to get the missing gear (2 of 2).

You can look inside the sheep barn, but there is nothing to do there yet. Go right, reach the wall and follow it down the screen. Find a small bog and look into it. Pick up a sheet of paper, apparently Keith’s own writing. And there is that crow in the tree again. Why does it keep following you?

The library: the gear mechanism

Return to the castle and talk to Keith, then go to the library and ask Kyler about everything. Take the list and the flower basket.

Go to the bookshelf, click the base of the knight’s helmet, and press the drawer of gears that slides out. Now that you have both gears you can assemble them to drive the mechanism.

Puzzle: the gears

Connect all the gears in the right order, then start the mechanism by pressing the handle at the bottom left. You get another dolls’ house diagram.

The nursery: second doll arrangement

Go to the nursery and to the dolls’ house. Click it and arrange the dolls to the diagram found in the helmet:

• Put the cat on the upper floor, on the right, because the diagram places her highest with every other doll to her left.
• Put the doll in the green dress, who looks like Kyler, to the left of the cat on the upper floor.
• Put the pig to the right of the chandelier on the lower floor.
• Put the blonde girl doll, who looks like Bess, below the Kyler doll.
• Put the blue dog doll, won at SuperDarts, on the lower floor between the knights, to the right of the pig.
• Put the dark-haired girl doll, who looks like George, above the blue dog.
• Put the cow to the left of the George doll.

Press Check and receive another token for the arcade. You cannot do the next diagram yet, because you are missing a sheep doll.

Gathering the wedding bouquet

Kyler wants you to gather particular flowers for her wedding bouquet. Take the flower list from your inventory and study it. Go down to the fireplace hall and ask Madame Isabella for a hint. Recall the information from the medicinal herbs book you read at the cottage.

Leave the castle and go to the leprechaun garden. Walk to the statues, turn around, and on the left pick three roses, the symbol of love.

Leave the garden and move left to the flower bed you found while looking for the bog. Find the yellow flower and pick it: yarrow, symbolising courage.

Go to the bog. Without crossing the stream, pick foxglove on the right, the symbol of protection.

Go to the cottage beyond the bog and to the herb table. Among the two hanging bunches of dried herbs, take the bunch of sage that is not yet dry, the symbol of wisdom.

Leave the cottage and go to the passage in the wall. Enter the pasture where the sheep graze, go down a little and then right. Find the active spot and step inside the circle of stones. Go to any stone and look right down at its base, following the yellow down arrow, then turn left twice. Pick lavender, the symbol of happiness.

Easter egg 2, part one: the instruction sheet

Go to the stone with the stone slab and circle at its base. On the middle stone, find the picture of a tree with fallen leaves.

Turn the lower stone once, the middle stone once, and give the upper stone a full turn of four rotations. Repeat that cycle until the stone slabs below slide apart. Take the drawn instruction sheet for arranging the leprechauns in the garden.

Gathering the bouquet, continued

Put the hint in your inventory and carry on. Head for the bridge, to the spot where you did the sliding panel. At the left column, pick vervain, the symbol of prosperity. From the arch, follow the path left to the very end, where you come to a small forest clearing. Pick the last flower for the bouquet, larkspur, the symbol of health.

Check the list; every flower should now be ticked off.

Save point: wedding bouquet gathered.

Easter egg 2, part two: the leprechaun clock

Go to the leprechaun garden to finish the second Easter egg.

The riddle works like this: each statue has to stand in a particular position, like a hand on a clock face. On the sheet, the white numerals give the leprechauns’ positions counting left to right, and each statue has its own clover mark on its chest. The very first mark on the sheet appears on the chest of the fourth leprechaun. The first, seventh and third leprechauns already have times given: 3, 12 and 6 o’clock respectively, meaning each must stand in that position.

To work out the time, and therefore the position, of the next leprechaun, which is second from the top on the sheet and first in left-to-right order, multiply 3 by 12 and divide by 6, using the figures in orange, giving 6 o’clock in blue. So you carry out the simple arithmetic the instruction sets out, substituting the times you have found. A leprechaun marked 12 o’clock stands with its back to you; one marked 9 o’clock faces left.

Assuming the statues are still in the positions you left them in when you opened the gate:

• First statue: turn once, to 6 o’clock.
• Second statue: leave alone, at 9 o’clock.
• Third statue: turn twice, to 6 o’clock.
• Fourth statue: turn three times, to 3 o’clock.
• Fifth statue: turn three times, to 12 o’clock.
• Sixth statue: turn three times, to 9 o’clock.
• Seventh statue: turn twice, to 12 o’clock.

Take the Easter egg from the crow’s nest on the right.

Save point: second egg received.

Matt’s luggage, and the drum

The fireplace hall

Return to the castle. Luckily Keith is not in his usual place. Look under the bed and find Matt’s luggage.

Go up the stairs to the library door. Wait by the door and eavesdrop on Keith and Kyler. To avoid an awkward meeting, hide in the nursery. Come out, go into the library and talk to your friend. Go down to the fireplace hall and question Keith about everything.

The pub: playing the drum

Go to the pub and talk to the caretaker. To get the old man talking you have to be a musician for a while.

Puzzle: the drum

Listen to the instructions carefully. The drum is divided into five coloured sectors. When a note of a given colour reaches the opening on the right at the end of the stave above, strike the matching sector with your drumstick by pressing the corresponding cursor key. When a grey note appears on the stave, press the space bar. This mini-game is easier with the cursor keys plus space. You need at least 70 points.

You have to keep playing until the musicians, and Donal Delany with them, are happy.

Save point: drum tune played.

The caretaker gives you the book Ancient Celtic Festivals. Question him about everything. At the end of the conversation Donal gives you the barn key and a job: drive ten sheep into the barn for shearing.

If Donal will not give you the barn key, go back to the castle and tell Keith who hid Matt’s things under his bed.

The pasture: rounding up the sheep

Hurry to the pasture. When a sheep is caught in the lantern’s circle of light, click the whistle icon, the one you won playing Sharp-Eyed Detective, in the top left next to your purse. To the right of the whistle is a sheep icon showing how many you have caught. Work quickly, because the barn doors are not shut and sheep escape from time to time.

Once you have all ten, go into the barn and straight back out; the doors close automatically so the sheep cannot scatter.

Save point: all sheep gathered.

The cottage: the sheep doll

Hurry to the cottage beyond the bog. Go to the table with the locked casket. To the left of it stands a blank sheep doll; click it. Then look in the drawer of wool. There is clearly not enough wool to stuff the doll.

The pub, then the shearing shed

Return to the pub and talk to the caretaker again. Donal lets you shear the sheep, provided you produce three sacks of wool for him.

Puzzle: shearing the sheep

Go to the shed. Go inside and look right, where sacks for wool lie in a yellow container. Open the container so an empty sack attaches itself automatically to the conveyor’s inlet, then stand in front of the shearing machine.

Click the whistle and a sheep comes out of the pen. Watch it closely. If it knocks a board over as it enters the shearing pen, its emotional state is frightened. Look left and read the instructions.

You have to judge each sheep’s mood yourself. A worked example: a sheep of the Ronan family comes onto the podium and its name shows on the display. Ronan is worth 17 points. Beside it on the display are three blue stars; the instruction’s blue bar makes that another 9 points. Ronan is shifting its feet restlessly in the pen, so it is angry, another 13 points. Add them: 17 + 9 + 13 = 39. Dial 39 and press Shear. With the parameters right, you see one of the wonders of the hairdresser’s art. Use the whistle to call the next sheep.

The signs of each mood:

• Standing still and silent: calm.
• Jumping on all four legs and bleating: happy.
• Rearing up as it enters the shearing area, stamping and continuing to bleat: bleating.
• Rearing up on entry and continuing to hop about restlessly: frightened.
• Scraping the ground with its hooves and jerking its head: angry.

Two more examples:

• Blue stars, Byrne family, angry: 9 + 23 + 13 = 45.
• Green stars, Daly family, happy and hopping in the pen: 2 + 19 + 11 = 33.

If no sheep answers the whistle, go to the sack container, open it and pull out the sack full of wool. Two correctly sheared sheep fill one sack.

Save point: shearing finished.

When the third and last sack is full, take a little wool from it.

For the achievement you need to produce four different styles of shearing.

Leave the shed and hurry to the cottage. Go to the table with the blank sheep doll and use the wool on it. Take the finished sheep doll and return to the castle.

The nursery: third doll arrangement

Go to the nursery and click the dolls’ house. Arrange the dolls to the diagram:

• Put the cow at the bottom, with the cat to its left.
• Put the Kyler doll at the bottom, to the left of the chandelier.
• Put the sheep doll on the second tier, with Bess to its left and George to its right.
• On that same tier, put the pig to the right of George.
• On the top tier, put the blue dog doll.

Press Check and take the bronze plate (3 of 4) from the cache.

The Celtic columns

Now for the Celtic columns. Get a hint from Madame Isabella, leave the castle and go through the wall to the pasture.

Enter the clearing ringed by stone columns. Go to the column with the stone slab at its base, the cache where you took the Easter egg instructions.

Puzzle: the four columns

Open Constellations of the Zodiac and study it. Find Taurus and set it on the upper stone.

Open Celtic Festivals and find the festival marked on the day between the spring equinox and midsummer: Beltaine. Look at the ogham alphabet and work out how Beltaine is written in notches, remembering that ogham reads from top to bottom. Turn the lower stone to spell Beltaine. The middle stone should show a tree in blossom, since this is spring.

Go right to the next column and turn the stones on the same principle. After spring comes summer: upper stone Leo, lower stone Lughnasa, middle stone the festival of the first harvest, showing a tree with fruit on the ground.

Go right again. Upper stone Scorpio, lower stone Samhain, the symbol of the departing year, middle stone a tree with no leaves.

Go right to the last column. Upper stone Aquarius, lower stone Imbolc, the festival of the home and of waking nature, middle stone a tree with the faintest hint of leaves.

With every column set correctly, the cache below opens again. Take the copper plate (4 of 4).

Save point: column stones arranged.

The binary code, and printing the instructions

The library: reading the plates

Now that you have all four plates you can tackle the binary code. Go into the castle, take another hint from Madame Isabella, and go up to the library.

Go to the table with the scales and find the instruction for converting binary behind the instrument by the wall. Each plate carries a unique number.

How the conversion works

Draw the same table the instruction shows, and enter each plate’s number into it in turn to work out the printing colour for that plate. Write each digit of the number strictly beneath the numbers along the top. Where a zero falls under a number, write zero in the lower part of the table. Where a one falls under a number, write that number in the lower row. Then add up everything in the lower row and look the total up in the instruction.

The table the author drew to explain this does not exist in the game; it is purely an aid to understanding how the plate colour is calculated.

The fireplace hall: printing the instruction sheet

Go down to the printing press. Click the basket and three plates appear in front of you. Click the plate slot to remove the plate that went in automatically, so all four plates are available. Be careful not to break the printing sequence, and save before you start.

The printing sequence

1. Take the first plate, 01000011, and lay it to the left of the wheel. Take the bottle of blue ink and flood the plate. Take a blank sheet and lay it on the inked plate. Press the wheel to roll the sheet against the plate. Put the finished sheet on the drier on the right, but do not press any buttons.
2. Take the second plate, 01001101, put it in the plate slot and flood it with red. Take your first rolled sheet from the drier, lay it on the plate and press the wheel. The sheet now carries two inks. Put it back on the drier and leave it alone.
3. Put the next plate, 01011001, in the slot and flood it with yellow. Take your sheet from the drier, lay it on the yellow plate and press the wheel. Put the three-colour sheet back on the drier, again pressing nothing.
4. Now the last plate, 01001011. Lay it on the platform on the left and flood it with black. Take your three-colour sheet from the drier and lay it over the black ink. Press the wheel.

In front of you is the fully printed instruction for launching the jetpack. Put the sheet on the drier and now, and only now, press the red button to dry it. Take the finished instruction.

If you rush and dry a sheet too early, breaking the sequence, just click the greenish recycling basket on the right and start again, this time leaving the sheet on the drier untouched.

Save point: instruction printed.

The jetpack

The bridge: the first flight

Leave the castle and walk to the middle of the bridge over the river.

Where you take off from matters.

Take the jetpack from your inventory and press the button to open it. Prepare it for launch strictly in the order given on the printed instruction.

Save point: before the first flight.

Hold the left mouse button and steer your first flight to the tower window where you saw the light.

A known bug: sometimes the jetpack explodes even when you have printed the instruction correctly, prepared the pack correctly and chosen the right launch spot. Reports online say the fix is to print the instruction with a different order of plates, found by trial. The appearance of the instruction and the order of preparing the pack do not change.

The small tower

Enter the tower room and go right to the round table. Open the table drawer and take out a written sheet. Read the note; it does not make much sense yet, with its talk of books and an island.

Go to the wall with the poster of the Malloy family tree. Turn around and step out of the window. The jetpack starts automatically and you only steer.

Fly left and find a sea rock out at sea. Land on the rocks and go forward. You see an inscription on the rock reading N5, so N is the fifth letter of the code you will need. Fly off the rock and land by the castle doors.

The library: the four book riddles

Go into the fireplace hall and talk to Keith. Tell him who hid Matt’s things under his bed. Pay Madame Isabella for a hint and go up to the library. Go to the bookshelves.

Four of the code’s five letters come from riddles in four library books, and the fifth from the sea rock. Each riddle also tells you which position its letter takes.

• Nautical Cartography, on the left shelf in the top row beside the horse statuette. The riddle reads “One year soon you’ll finally join us here. The seas await your notice.” The letter is C, and “one year” puts it first.
• Ersatz Quidnuncs, from the top shelf on the right. The riddle runs through thirteen instructions whose final eight letters, read aloud, give “Q only or Q will do.” The letter is Q, in second place.
• Hydroponics and Aeroponics, from the left edge of the table with the scales. The riddle says “Three years into the study. By removing all the duplicates, I find that the only remaining true consonant is the key.” Remove every duplicated consonant from the title and one is left: L. “Three years” puts it third.
• Zoopraxiscope, from the top right shelf. The riddle reads “Animals abound, in a merry round. Seated in the middle, can answer the riddle. On legs of four, they spin ever more.” The middle letter of the title is X, and “legs of four” puts it fourth.

The etching on the island rock reads N5, so N is the fifth letter.

That gives the code C Q L X N.

Translator’s note: the Russian release this guide was written from uses different books and produces a Cyrillic code. The riddles, letters and code above are the English release’s own, checked against published English walkthroughs.

The small tower: the secretary

Leave the castle. You see something like a ghost fly out of the tower window; fly there.

Go into the room and to the locked secretary. Click its lid to enlarge the lock for entering the code. You need five letters: four from the library books and the fifth from the sea rock. Enter C Q L X N.

From the open secretary take the key, which looks like the one for the casket in the cottage. Look at the framed photograph of Fiona, whose name you saw in the Malloy family tree. Take the doll with a key around its neck, which looks remarkably like you. Also find and read the diary of little Fiona’s mother. The answer to this tangled story feels close. Zoom out and the secretary lid closes again.

Easter egg 3

Look at the secretary’s combination lock and recall the book you saw on the nursery dressing table, Le Lapin Bleu, whose cover design matches this dial lock. Enter LAPIN.

Take another dolls’ house diagram. You also need the Nancy doll from inside the secretary, which means opening it with the real code first. Leave the tower room and return to the castle. Go up to the nursery and to the dolls’ house, arrange the dolls to this last diagram, and receive the third Easter egg.

Save point: third egg received.

The laboratory

For achievement hunters: save here and finish anything outstanding. Talk to Kyler and Keith. Spend all your money on Madame Isabella. Fly to the pub and mix more cocktails. Fly over the pasture and the castle. Turn the leprechaun figures in the garden. Arrange the dolls to every diagram. Print instructions, mixing the plates and inks.

Leave the castle and fly to the cottage beyond the bog. This is your last flight.

Go to the casket on the table and open it with the key from the secretary. Read the greetings card and put it back in the casket. Turn around and see Fiona Malloy in person.

Come round after the fall and you go forward automatically. Pull the lever by the door. Talk to Matt, who explains in detail how he came to be here. Go and look around the laboratory.

Go to the table and read the experiment journal. Take the rocket launch plan from the wall. Take it from your inventory and read it carefully: the shaft hatch can be opened by launching the rocket. Easy to say.

Under the plan on the wall you find a red button and press it hopefully. Disappointingly it only opens a niche of chemical elements, not the way out. Look at the periodic table, paying particular attention to the group of incompatible reagents, and activate the puzzle.

Puzzle: sorting the chemicals

You now have painstaking work moving flasks of chemicals into their categories, or stores. The arrows in the top right move the mechanical grab at the bottom of the stand in the given direction. Below the arrows is a size scale for opening and closing the grab’s upper part.

Bring the grab to a large flask, keeping the lower part half a cell away and the side grab one cell wide. Click the size scale on the right to close the upper part of the grab around the flask.

For medium flasks the lower part of the grab should be half a cell away, both below and to the side.

For small flasks the lower part should be one cell away and the upper part half a cell. Put the grab exactly in the middle beside each flask. To close the upper part around a flask, click to the left of the slider on the size scale.

With a flask gripped, move the grab and flask with the arrows to the right store. Bring the grab to the store, centre it exactly, and raise it as far as it goes with the arrows on the right. Click to the right of the slider on the size scale to release the upper metal grab. To bring the empty grab out of the store, click the down arrow.

The categories:

• Category 1: NH3, P, H, K, and the starter key, which you take last.
• Category 2: I, H2O, LOX, Cl.
• Category 3: Hg, F, Br, Rn.

Save point: elements sorted.

Take the starter key from the niche under the stand. Head for the stairs to the first floor.

Puzzle: repairing the stairs

Straightforward: lay the geometric shapes in the right order.

Go up the stairs and take the rocket nose cone from the shelving. Go to the table by the metal ladder. Under the table are buckets of various rocket parts; you need the tail section, in the middle bucket.

Go right from the table to where the rocket itself stands. It is dark here and the light only comes on when you get right up to the rocket.

Fit the tail section, then click the hatch at the base of the rocket and look inside the nozzle.

Puzzle: the rocket wiring

To untangle the wires, consult the test journal. The connections are:

• Grey to yellow.
• Black to blue.
• Violet to red.
• Brown to green.
• Pink to orange.

If you would rather not untangle them at all, just connect them 4 – 2 – 3 – 1 – 5, counting from top to bottom.

Go up the ladder and fit the nose cone. Come down and go to the blackboard on the wall. Look at the note pinned to it, which gives the launch angle: 90.1°. Examine the control panel to the left of the blackboard and try to launch the rocket according to the plan:

• Insert the starter key to the right of the indicator.
• Set the required launch angle on the indicator.
• Open the three levers.

Done correctly, the rocket lifts off through the opened shaft. Watch the final video, answer the quiz question and collect your achievements.

Senior Detective differences

Puzzle: the otter casket

Swap tiles: 3 and 4; 1 and 6; 7 and 8; 1 and 2; 1 and 7.

Then rotate tiles with the right mouse button:

• Rotate 6 once.
• Rotate 4 three times.
• Rotate 2 once.
• Rotate 1 once.
• Rotate 3 twice.
• Rotate 8 three times.

Save point: casket cache open.

Puzzle: the Tower of Hanoi

Seven discs instead of five. Same notation, L, M and R for the pegs:

1-R, 2-M, 1-M, 3-R, 1-L, 2-R, 1-R, 4-M, 1-M, 2-L, 1-L, 3-M, 1-R, 2-M, 1-M, 5-R, 1-L, 2-R, 1-R, 3-L, 1-M, 2-L, 1-L, 4-R, 1-R, 2-M, 1-M, 3-R, 1-L, 2-R, 1-R, 6-M, 1-M, 2-L, 1-L, 3-M, 1-R, 2-M, 1-M, 4-L, 1-L, 2-R, 1-R, 3-L, 1-M, 2-L, 1-L, 5-M, 1-R, 2-M, 1-M, 3-R, 1-L, 2-R, 1-R, 4-M, 1-L, 2-M, 1-M, 3-L, 1-L, 2-R, 1-R, 3-M, 1-L, 2-M, 1-M, 7-R, 1-L, 2-R, 1-R, 3-L, 1-M, 2-L, 1-L, 4-R, 1-R, 2-M, 1-M, 3-R, 1-L, 2-R, 1-R, 5-L, 1-M, 2-L, 1-L, 3-M, 1-R, 2-M, 1-M, 4-L, 1-L, 2-R, 1-R, 3-L, 1-M, 2-L, 1-L, 6-R, 1-R, 2-M, 1-M, 3-R, 1-L, 2-R, 1-R, 4-M, 1-M, 2-L, 1-L, 3-M, 1-R, 2-M, 1-M, 5-R, 1-L, 2-R, 1-R, 3-L, 1-M, 2-L, 1-L, 4-R, 1-R, 2-M, 1-M, 3-R, 1-L, 2-R, 1-R

Save point: lantern charged.

Puzzle: the bridge panel

One valid sequence:

7 left, 11 up, 15 up, 14 right, 10 down, 11 left, 7 down, 6 right, 10 up, 9 right, 5 down, 6 left, 2 down, 1 right, 5 up, 6 left, 7 left, 3 down, 4 left, 8 up, 12 up, 16 up, 15 right, 14 right, 13 right, 9 down, 10 left, 11 left, 7 down, 6 right, 5 right, 9 up, 10 left, 11 left, 12 left, 16 up, 15 right, 14 right, 13 right, 9 down, 10 left, 6 down, 5 right, 1 down, 2 left, 6 up, 10 up, 11 left, 15 up, 14 right, 10 down, 6 down, 2 down, 1 right, 5 up, 9 up, 13 up, 14 left, 10 down, 6 down, 2 down, 3 left, 4 left, 8 up, 7 right, 11 up, 12 left, 8 down, 7 right, 3 down, 4 left, 8 up, 12 up, 11 right, 10 right, 6 down, 2 down, 3 left, 4 left, 8 up, 12 up, 11 right, 7 down, 8 left, 4 down, 3 right, 7 up, 11 up, 12 left, 16 up, 15 right, 14 right, 10 down, 11 left, 15 up, 16 left, 12 down, 11 right, 7 down, 3 down, 4 left, 8 up, 12 up, 16 up, 15 right, 11 down, 12 left, 8 down, 4 down, 3 right, 7 up, 11 up, 10 right, 14 up, 15 left, 16 left, 12 down, 8 down, 7 right, 11 up, 10 right, 6 down, 7 left, 11 up, 15 up, 14 right, 10 down, 6 down, 7 left, 8 left, 12 up, 16 up, 15 right, 11 down, 7 down, 8 left, 12 up, 16 up, 15 right, 14 right, 10 down, 11 left, 12 left, 8 down, 7 right, 3 down, 2 right, 1 right, 5 up, 9 up, 10 left, 11 left, 15 up, 14 right, 10 down, 11 left, 15 up, 14 right, 10 down, 9 right, 5 down, 1 down, 2 left, 3 left, 7 up

Save point: bridge panel assembled.