phillip marlowe: private eye walkthrough
version 4.0
Directions for playing an efficient game which will allow
the user to navigate through the game to one of the endings.
It is important to note that while this is one way to
navigate through the game it is by no means the only way.
General note: Pressing the escape key while an animation
is running will cause the animation to jump to its end.
Playing a scene, by watching it or by escaping through
it, will update the game state.
Installing Private Eye:
1) Insert the Private Eye disc into your CD-ROM drive.
2) Choose the Run command from the File menu (or the Start
menu if using Win 95).
3) Type the following in the Run dialog box: D:\setup.exe.
(If your CD-ROM drive is not D: then replace D: with the
correct letter.)
4) Follow the instructions on the screen.
Starting Private Eye:
1) Make sure the Private Eye disc is inserted in your
CD-ROM drive.
2) With Win 3.1: Double-click the Private Eye icon in
the Private Eye program group.
With Win 95: From the Start menu, select the Private Eye
item in the Private Eye group in Programs
After the logos and opening animation are complete, choose
the "original" version of the game and press
start.
Meeting Orfamay Quest
- Following a mysterious murder sequence, Marlowe is shown
meeting a prissy small town girl named Orfamay Quest.
Her sister left home years ago. Her father is dead. She
lives alone with her mother. Her brother moved to California.
He has been missing for months. Orfamay produces a photograph
of Orrin.
- Click Orrin. Learn that he didn't smoke, drink or go
out with girls. His one hobby is taking candid snapshots.
Marlowe takes Orfamay's case.
Resources in Marlowe's office
- Go to the desk and open the middle drawer. That's where
Marlowe's gun is. You can arm and disarm Marlowe by clicking
on the holster. Leave the gun in the drawer.
- Open the left hand desk drawer. Click the bourbon bottle.
Listen to Marlowe's thoughts about the case so far.
- Go to the tall file cabinet. Open the bottom two drawers.
There are newspapers and magazines in there that feature
articles about characters in the game and clues to the
mystery. Flip through, or read, now or later.
- Exit through the door. You are now on the interactive
desktop.
Where to next?
- Open map, click Bay City. See 449 Idaho St. and Cal
Western. Orrin Quest lived at 449 Idaho St. and worked
at Cal Western.
- Click Cal Western
Cal Western - Orrin's last employer
- Listen to foreman and choose to find out more about
Orrin. Click the personnel file and discover that Orrin
was NOT the straight arrow his sister said he was. And
Orrin said he was going to be rich because he'd collect
on the wages of sin.
449 Idaho Street - Orrin's last address
- Go to map and choose 449 Idaho Street. Choose to enter
building now by clicking the doorknob. Fight with a hoodlum
who pulls a gun and a knife on Marlowe. Hoodlum is protecting
suitcase full of money and implies that he belongs to
a gang.
Lester B. Clausen
- Scene continues. See manager passed out on couch. Click
empty bottles. Learn that the manager, Lester B. Clausen,
senses that Marlowe is trouble. He tries to phone someone
to help him. He calls Vince the Doc and then passes out.
George W. Hicks
- Scene continues with Marlowe going upstairs to get a
look at Orrin's room, number 214. Marlowe doesn't expect
Orrin to be there. But the room is not empty. A bald guy
is standing in there with a toupee in his hand. Learn
that the man is George W. Hicks whose in Orrin's room
because its a better room and he moved there from room
215.
- Click the business card in Hicks' hand and learn that
Orrin may have left because he confronted the drug dealers
that use the building and they threatened him.
First dead body - Clausen a la ice pick
- Scene continues. Marlowe realizes that Clausen is no
longer snoring. User can click around room and examine
or take items. Examine ice pick. Click the bottles on
the table. Reveal matchbook. Take matchbook. Examine drawers,
take everything. Leave ice pick in body. Take phone number
on wall next to phone by the door. Exit through the door.
If you're interrupted by the police and hauled downtown
before you can complete your search of the murder scene
simply return to the murder scene at your convenience
and continue the search.
- Marlowe leaves the scene of the crime and phones in
an anonymous tip to the police that Clausen has been murdered.
This will get him into trouble with the police later if
they find out that he was at 449 Idaho St. while Clausen
was being murdered.
Who are these guys?
- After Idaho Street Marlowe returns to his office automatically.
Click on the door to leave the office and arrive at the
desktop resources. Look through the dossiers on the desktop,
new ones appear as you encounter more characters. So the
dead guy and the little guy with the suitcase full of
money both had criminal records. Play the radio, both
commercial and police band. What do the cops know?
Orfamay's second visit
- Click the map, open Hollywood, click on Marlowe's office.
Back at the office, you find that Orfamay is there waiting
for you. She's telling you things she told you before
and complaining that you haven't done anything. Click
Orfamay. Learn that Marlowe thinks its strange that Orfamay
says she's worried about her brother but acts like he's
not really in danger.
Using the resources in Marlowe's office
- Click the bourbon bottle in desk drawer to get Marlowe's
opinion of 449 Idaho street.
- Go to file cabinet. Read articles about drugs and crime.
- Go to the cabinet. Click to open. Click the photograph
of three men. One looks like the dead Clausen. One looks
like that guy Hicks, who is the third one? Is that Vince?
Click Vince's phone number (scrap of paper taken from
wall at 449 Idaho St.)
- Click to call the phone number. Listen to conversation
with Dr. Vincent Lagardie.
Where to next?
- Open the map and click on Bay City. Go to Dr. Lagardie's
office. Dr. maybe "in" or "out". When
"in" you get animated scenes where you learn
what Lagardie knows about Orrin, ice picks, Clausen and
drugs. When "out" you get to break in to the
office and search it.
Get phone call from mystery man
- While on the interactive desktop the phone will ring.
Click the phone while its ringing to answer it. Get message
from some guy at the Van Nuys Hotel. He wants you to keep
something in a safe for him. Why should you listen? Because
he hints that he knows you were at the scene of the Clausen
murder when Clausen was killed and even the cops don't
know that.
Van Nuys Hotel - second body
- Click on map, Hollywood, go to Van Nuys Hotel.
- Search room. Take matchbook.
- Click on dead man's toupee, take camera receipt.
- Go into bathroom. Watch scene with disguised woman.
- Click on front door to leave. Get scene with detectives
French and Beifus. Learn that George Hicks was better
known as Mileaway Marston, a small time hood. He was killed
same way as Clausen, ice pick to the back of the neck.
Learn that whoever killed him was looking for something.
Something small that could have been hidden.
Return to Marlowe's office
- Go to low cabinet. Click on matchbook from the hotel.
Its another book of Dancers Club matches. Click on the
matchbook to call the phone number that's scrawled inside
the matchbook cover.
- Learn by calling that the phone number belongs to a
Mr. Steelgrave. How does a rich man's phone number find
its way into the hands of a two bit, now deceased, hood?
- Click on the receipt you got from under the dead man's
toupee. Its a receipt for pictures from a camera shop.
Was this what the dead man was trying to hide?
Click on interactive border
- Look through dossiers. Note all the gangsters. Find
Mavis Weld. She was the women at the Van Nuys Hotel who
was hiding in the bathroom and held a gun on you.
- Play the radio to see what news there is about murders.
What do cops know or suspect?
Return to Marlowe's office - (click view screen)
- Now that you recognize the woman from the hotel as Mavis
Weld go to file cabinet and read newspaper and magazine
articles about her.
Go back to Van Nuys Hotel
- Use map to get back to Van Nuys Hotel. At scene of Hicks
murder find fan magazine. Read articles about Mavis Weld
and Dolores Gonzales.
- Exit room.
Where to next?
- Click the map, click Hollywood, go to Mavis Weld's apt.
- Meet Dolores Gonzales and Mavis Weld. Mavis Weld recognizes
Marlowe from the hotel but pretends not to. She was there
to pay off a blackmailer. Mavis knows that it was her
brother who took an incriminating picture of her and was
blackmailing her with it. She was confused when a man
she didn't know called her and told her that HE had the
blackmail photos and did she want to buy them. Well the
man in the hotel is dead now and all Mavis wants to do
is keep herself and her creepy brother out of it.
- Click on notebook. Learn that Marlowe is protecting
Mavis from the police by not telling them she was at the
murder scene. He also assumes that the only reason she'd
go some place with a gun and a disguise was to pay off
a blackmailer. He's right but Mavis pretends he's not.
Marlowe gets thrown out of the apartment.
Where to next?
- Go back to Marlowe's office. Get scene with Alfred and
Toad. Two tough guys hired by Sheridan Ballou, Mavis Weld's
agent, to "talk" Marlowe into stopping his investigation.
Exit through the door.
Where to next?
- On interactive desktop open map and click on Bay City.
Click on Bay City Camera Shop to follow the lead on the
camera receipt.
Bay City Camera Shop
- Get the photos that Hicks was killed for.
Although many new locations are now available, for the
sake of speeding this walk-through, continue as follows.
Return to Marlowe's office
- Get phone call from Orfamay. She lies. She says she
has to see Marlowe right away because she heard from her
brother. Marlowe doesn't buy it, wants to hang up. Orfamay
says fine, she'll call the police instead, about Marlowe's
involvement with recent murders.
You might have to go to another location and then come
back in order to get this call.
- Click on note pad. Learn that Orrin could have gone
to his sister Leila for help after he got laid off. Leila
is in California. If you haven't recognized her by now
take a second look at the Quest family photo in inventory.
Leila Quest is Mavis Weld.
- Go to the cabinet, open it and take a very close look
at the photo. Orrin was using this to blackmail his sister.
Note date of newspaper on table in photo.
- Go to file cabinet. Read articles about death of Sunny
Moe Stein. Note that murder occurred same day that photo
was taken. Leave the office through the door.
Where to next?
- Open the map and go to Ballou's office in Hollywood.
Ballou's office
- Get scene outside Ballou's office
- Click the hat. Learn that the man in the picture is
Mr. Steelgrave and that Steelgrave might be Weepy Moyer
- a gangster from Cleveland. Ballou hires Marlowe to investigate
and protect his client Mavis Weld. Can now go to Tantamount
Studios, where Mavis is filming.
Tantamount Studios
- Mavis is not pleased to see Marlowe.
- Click the notebook. Learn that Mavis was at the hotel
to buy a blackmail photo. The photo shows Steelgrave having
lunch on a day he was supposed
to be in jail. The photo is dangerous to Steelgrave. Maybe
even the knowledge of where he was is dangerous.
Return to interactive desktop
- Read dossiers on Steelgrave, Moyer, Stein
- play commercial radio and police band radio
- click map, click Hollywood, click Steelgrave's Mansion.
Steelgrave's Mansion
- Get scene with Steelgrave.
Dancers Club
- click map, click Bay City, click the Dancers Club.
- Get scene at club.
Return to interactive desktop
- Get phone call from Orfamay explaining that she heard
from her brother. He's hiding at Dr. Lagardie's house
and he's afraid to leave. She says he needs help.
If you do not get this call, try going back to the Dancers
Club, Steelgrave's Mansion, or to some other locations
and then go back to the desktop. If you go back to Marlowe's
office, you might get a visit from Dolores Gonzales.
Dr. Lagardie's Office
- Go to Dr. Lagardie's office
- Get scene with Dr. Lagardie
- Click the letter opener. Learn that Marlowe believes
Lagardie and Clausen were running a drug operation. Orrin
Quest's blackmail photo offered the doctor an opportunity
to blackmail Steelgrave. He used Quest, Clausen and Hicks
and the blackmail photo to extort money from Steelgrave.
- Marlowe gets drugged. Passes out and wakes up alone,
almost. Orrin Quest comes through the door and with an
ice pick. Orrin is dying on his feet. Somebody shot him
in the back twice. You can stay and search the room or
leave.
Return to interactive desktop
- Get phone call from Orfamay. She knows her brother is
dead and she hopes that Marlowe gets in trouble for it.
Again, you might have to leave and come back to get the
call.
- Open the map, look at Bay City and Hollywood. Many places
are available. Go to any 2 of them. . .The phone call
you get might be from Dolores, telling you to come to
Steelgrave's right away.
- Get phone call from the police. They want to see you
downtown.
This may not happen. If not skip to Steelgrave Mansion
part.
Police Station
- Go to police station
- Get scene with police. Orfamay told them that her brother
was in Dr. Lagardie's office and she heard shots. They
investigated And sure enough Orrin is dead. What does
Marlowe know about all this?
- Click Marlowe's head. Tell the cops a story about Dr.
Lagardie and Clausen, Orrin and marijuana. Don't say anything
about blackmail, Steelgrave or Mavis Weld.
Return to Marlowe's office
- Dolores Gonzales is waiting for you. Get scene with
Dolores. She knows all about Steelgrave's jail time and
the fact that he wasn't in jail the day that Stein was
shot.
- Click Dolores. Learn that she wants to blackmail Mavis
herself and that Steelgrave was once her lover.
- Click the bourbon bottle in desk to see what Marlowe
thinks about the case so far. Click again. There can be
more than one hint available.
Return to interactive desktop
- Open the map, look at Bay City and Hollywood. Many places
are available. Go to any 2 of them. .
- Get phone call from Dolores. She says you must meet
her at Steelgrave's mansion right now because Mavis is
in very big trouble.
Steelgrave's Mansion
- Go to Steelgrave's mansion by clicking it on the map.
- Get scene outside with Dolores. She's upset. She pulls
a gun on Marlowe and threatens to kill him, because that
would get her in good with Steelgrave. But she changes
her mind, gives the gun to Marlowe and asks him to kill
Steelgrave for her. Marlowe goes into the mansion and
finds Mavis. Mavis is quiet. She tells Marlowe she shot
Steelgrave dead because he had killed her brother. She
shows him the gun.
- Click Mavis. Marlowe confuses the evidence at the scene
of the crime so that it looks like Steelgrave had held
and fired the gun that Dolores had given him. Marlowe
wipes the prints off the other white handled gun that
Mavis had held and hides Steelgrave's own gun in a towel.
- Scene continues with arrival of police. Marlowe claims
that Steelgrave killed Orrin. Cops take him downtown and
grill him about his involvement in the murders.
Return to Interactive interface
- Get phone call from DA's office
You might need to go to another location and then come
back.
- Click on the Hollywood map, got to the DA's office.
- Get scene with DA and Mavis Weld. DA threatens to charge
Marlowe with withholding evidence. But Mavis' attorney
says that the photo can't be introduced as evidence. Someone
must swear that the photo was indeed taken on a certain
day. No one can do that. Orrin took the photo and he's
dead. Steelgrave was in the photo but he's not talking,
he's dead. Mavis was in the photo but she has no memory
of when it was taken. Mavis is free and clear. She will
not be tried for murder.
Return to Marlowe's office
- Get a final scene with Orfamay. Learn that Orfamay knew
all along her brother was blackmailing her sister. But
he wasn't going to cut Orfamay in on the blackmail money.
Orfamay only came west so that she could track her brother
down and get a share of the money. She found out where
Orrin was. She also knew that Steelgrave wanted Orrin
too. She figured she could sell out her brother for a
thousand dollars.
Return to interactive interface
- Get last phone call from Dolores
You might have to go to another location first.
- Click on the Hollywood map, go to Dolores' apt.
Dolores Gonzales
- Get a final scene with Dolores that explains what really
happened.
- Get scene of Dr. Lagardie on his way up to Dolores'
apartment
- Get final Marlowe scene where he talks about Dolores'
death.
- Get epilogue
