A guide to the 1986 text-adventure game
MURDER AT THE ABBEY
by A&B Computing for the 8-bit BBC Micro computer
CONTENTS
a. Introduction
b. Notes
c. Walkthrough
d. Links
a. INTRODUCTION
The game Murder At The Abbey by Jane and Jonathan Evans and A&B Computing was solved in 2015 by
"ahope1" and "leenew".
This document was written by "ahope1" and can be found at the Classic Adventure Solutions
Archive (CASA): http://solutionarchive.com/game/id%2C1430/
Document version 1.0
b. NOTES
The following notes are the result of merging two text files that were found on a BBC Micro
disc-image of Murder At The Abbey.
_>_>_>
MURDER AT THE ABBEY is set in the 1930s and is a classic country-house 'whodunnit'. You
are Detective-Inspector Edward Carstairs, and you have been sent to investigate the mysterious death
of Lord Arthur Melborough. The cast of characters from which you have to detect the murderer
includes the victim's son Gerald Melborough, the widow Lady Melborough, her French maid
Suzanne, the ancient butler, and a number of house guests, any or all of whom might have had a
motive for killing their host. Red herrings abound and your task is to find out
'whodunnit' and discover his or her motive. You must then confront the murderer with the
murder weapon and some material evidence to support your theory and make your accusation.
Unlike conventional adventures, this game does not consist of solving devious puzzles in order to
make progress. Instead you must walk around questioning suspects and making a thorough search of the
house and grounds. The suspects move about, and you may receive extra information by questioning
them more than once. Also, events occur over a period of time so you have the feeling of being
involved with a real story which unfolds at its own pace.
If you don't seem to be making any progress, remember it is important to EXAMINE every object,
SEARCH every location, and QUESTION every suspect. If you learn nothing the first time there may be
something to be discovered when you come back later on.
Because of the way the game is constructed, questioning suspects sets flags which enable later
events to take place. This means that even if you have played the game previously, and you know what
someone has to say, you must still question them each time you play.
If you attend carefully to all the clues you will receive, you should be able to work out the
identity of the murderer and make an arrest!
USEFUL COMMANDS: GET, QUESTION, SEARCH, CUT, BREAK, GIVE, TURN, READ, LISTEN, ANSWER, ACCUSE, OPEN.
Warning! The 'unpacking' process of this disc-based adventure takes almost one minute.
During this time, the disc drive will click continuously as data is accessed and it may appear that
the computer has locked up. This is not a fault and the adventure is loading normally when this
occurs.
This new game demonstrates the versatility of the ADVENTURESCAPE III system, producing a game quite
different from our earlier ones or any of the large number of adventure games we have seen for
review.
MURDER AT THE ABBEY was originally published in A&B COMPUTING 3.5.
MURDER AT THE ABBEY was conceived and programmed by Jonathan Evans.
<_<_<_
c. WALKTHROUGH
GET ATT
OPEN ATT
KNOC
EXAM BUT
QUES BUT
EXAM DAG
EXAM LOR
SEAR
E
U
E
EXAM MAG
GET MAG
W
S
E
SEAR
EXAM UND
W
W
U
W
SEAR
L
GET HAN
E
D
N
EXAM SCI
GET SCI
W
EXAM TEL
EXAM ADM
QUES ADM
SEAR
E
S
D
W
EXAM GER
QUES GER
EXAM ARC
QUES ARC
S
SEAR
L
GET BRA
E
EXAM UMB
HIT GON
E
EXAM DR
QUES DR
EXAM WIR
TURN KNO
LIST
LIST
E
EXAM MIS
QUES MIS
EXAM MRS
QUES MRS
W
N
N
W
EXAM LAN
QUES LAN
W
W
S
E
D
E
EXAM CLE
E
S
SEAR
EXAM PAI
GET PAI
N
QUES BUT
W
S
SEAR
L
EXAM HER
N
W
U
U
E
N
N
SMEL
W
SEAR
E
S
D
W
ANSW PHO
E
W
ANSW PHO
E
E
E
EXAM BUR
SEAR BUR
L
EXAM DOC
GET DOC
READ DOC
W
W
U
N
W
PRES SWI
L
EXAM KNI
GET KNI
E
S
S
W
D
D
E
D
EXAM BOD
GIVE BRA
DROP BRA
L
EXAM COR
SEAR COR
L
EXAM NOT
GET NOT
READ NOT
QUES BUT
E
U
W
U
GET CLE
W
U
W
S
E
S
W
S
SMEL
QUES LAN
QUES GER
N
E
E
N
N
W
BREA DOO
DROP CLE
W
SEAR COA
L
EXAM GOL
GET GOL
E
S
S
W
N
U
S
W
U
N
SEAR
L
DROP KNI
GET TED
EXAM TED
CUT TED
L
DROP TED
DROP SCI
EXAM SHA
GET SHA
GET KNI
S
D
D
W
S
E
HIT GON
U
S
W
N
W
SEAR
L
EXAM BLA
DROP ATT
GET BLA
E
S
D
E
E
ACCU ADM
d. LINKS
This document can be found at the Classic Adventure Solutions Archive (CASA):
http://solutionarchive.com/game/id%2C1430/
Thumbnails of the May 1986 issue of A&B Computing magazine, in which Murder At The Abbey was
first published:
http://www.acornelectron.co.uk/mags/aab/cats/aab305.html
A disc-image of Murder At The Abbey for use in BBC Micro emulators, at the Stairway To Hell
archive:
http://www.stairwaytohell.com/bbc/sthcollection/AB2_r1.zip
BeebEm, the BBC Micro emulator, for Windows:
http://www.mkw.me.uk/beebem/
BeebEm, the BBC Micro emulator, for Mac:
http://www.g7jjf.com/beebemmac.htm
A beginner's guide to interactive fiction (or text-adventure games):
http://pr-if.org/doc/play-if-card/
Video playthroughs of other BBC Micro text adventures:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ahope1/playlists
