Sierra On-Line · MCMLXXXIX · A Laura Bow Mystery Mystery

The Colonel's
Bequest

A Walkthrough in Eight Acts

Curtain 7:00 PM · Final curtain 3:00 AM · 76 notebook entries · Rank sought: Super Sleuth

Orientation

How to read this

The Colonel's Bequest doesn't have puzzles in a chain, so it doesn't get a walkthrough in a chain. It has a clock. Everything below is laid out against that clock.

The rule that governs everything

The mansion runs on an eight-hour night, 7:00 PM to 3:00 AM, split into eight one-hour acts. Within an act, a handful of specific scenes are time triggers. Witness one and the clock jumps forward fifteen minutes. Four jumps and the act ends, whether or not you saw anything else.

Nothing else moves the clock. You can wander the estate for an hour of real time, pick up every object, read every book, and the hands will not budge. This is the whole game:the triggers are your throttle, and everything else is free.

Scoring: the notebook, not points

Roberta Williams stripped out Sierra's point counter. In its place is Laura's notebook, tallied at the end on a thermometer called the Sleuth-O-Meter. There are 76 entries. All 76 gets you Super Sleuth. Seventy-five gets you nothing but a vague suggestion to be more observant.

The problem, for thirty years, was that the game gives no feedback when an entry is awarded. Guides were built on guesswork, and the guesswork calcified into ritual. In 2020 a ScummVM developer decompiled all three releases and published the actual award conditions for every entry — including several that are outright broken. This guide follows that reverse-engineering, and theSuperstitions section lists the rituals you can now stop performing.

Working the parser

Laura is driven by typed commands and the arrow keys. The verbs you'll lean on:

look holes — the core spying verb, once you're inside a passage. Some passages have peepholes into two rooms; try look up and look down as well. Check both downstairs passages every act.
look [thing] with monocle — close scrutiny. Ten separate notebook entries live here.
ask [person] about [topic] — used less than you'd expect. Only a handful of entries need it.
search body, give [item] to [person], pry [thing] with crowbar, oil [thing].
F3 repeats your last typed command — invaluable for the monocle.

The four secret passages

Learn these in Act I and use them all night. Upstairs, push either armoire in the hallway. Downstairs, push the grandfather clock or the mirror. Each is a corridor with peepholes into two rooms, and entering one credits every entrance and exit it connects — twelve notebook entries collapse into four pushes, plus the hedge-garden staircase and the basement crank later on.

Act IEveryone has something to hide7:00 PM → 8:00 PM

You arrive at Misty Acres with your roommate Lillian for the reading of her uncle's will. Nobody is murdered yet. This is your one calm hour, and it's also where the most-missed entry in the game is won or lost — the bathroom.

Clock spine

7:00Spy on the Colonel and Fifi through the upstairs passage — they're having an affair.Upstairs hallway → push left armoire → look holes
7:15Spy on Gertie and Clarence arguing in the parlor.Downstairs hallway → push mirror or clock → look holes
7:30Spy on Rudy and Gloria in the billiard room.Downstairs hallway → the other passage → look holes
7:45Find Gertie asleep in her room.Upstairs, Gertie and Gloria's room

Free moves

The bathroom. Go in while Lillian is putting on perfume and simply be there when she leaves the room entirely. That’s it. Telltale scent · Lillian See Superstitions — this is the one everyone gets wrong.
Ask Ethel about Rudy in her room or yours. She’ll tell you he gambles. Gambling · Rudy
Push the right armoire too, and both downstairs passages, even after you’ve used one for a trigger. Four pushes, twelve entries. 10 × Secret entrance
Look at the Colonel’s cigar in his room. Works in any act, so do it whenever. Cigar butt (half)
Look at Clarence’s cigar in the parlor. Only Act I here and Act II in the dining room actually register — the Act III and Act V versions are bugged. Optional — Colonel’s cigar suffices
Parlor: look decanter on the bar. You’ll need to notice it again later in Fifi’s room. Changed location · Decanter
Wilbur’s room: look bag on the bed. Same deal — notice it now, notice it gone in Act III. Changed location · Doctor’s bag
Study: look gun at the derringer on the desk, and open cabinet / look dagger in the weapon collection. Changed location · Derringer Changed location · Dagger
Library: look magazine or read magazine — Wilbur’s racing paper. Act I is the only act where read works. Gambling · Wilbur
Carriage house: take the crowbar and the oilcan. Both are needed for two-use entries later.
Chapel: stand at the pulpit, feel the loose board, pry boards with crowbar, then read the Bible underneath. Crowbar (1 of 2) Religious article · Bible
Kitchen: open the icebox and take the soup bone. Food · Kitchen

Act IIThe first body8:00 PM → 9:00 PM

Gertie disappears from her bed and turns up dead outside the billiard room. The house doesn't notice. This act carries the second of the two unavoidable conversations, and four entries ride on it.

Clock spine

8:00Catch Wilbur and Clarence arguing outdoors.Outside the study, east side of the mansion
8:15Spy on Clarence and Gloria in the billiard room.Downstairs passage → look holes (try up and down)
8:30Walk in on Lillian talking with Celie.Kitchen
8:45Find Wilbur reading alone.Library

Free moves

Re-enter Gertie’s room after seeing her asleep. She’s gone and the room is wrecked, and the message mentions cigar smoke. That single message hands you two entries with no further work. Telltale scent · Colonel Telltale scent · Clarence
Upstairs hallway: take the handkerchief off the floor. Monocle it in Act III
Outside the billiard room: Gertie’s body. Murdered · Gertie
Spy on Clarence and Wilbur in the dining room. Unavoidable — this is the only source of Wilbur’s embezzlement, and it’s the easy route to three more. Gambling · Wilbur Gambling · Clarence Embezzlement · Wilbur Embezzlement · Clarence
Rudy’s room: catch him forcing himself on Fifi. Take this one now — the similar Act III scene in her room awards nothing. Struggled · Fifi
Fifi’s room after she leaves Rudy’s — she’ll be at her mirror. Just being in the room is the credit; there’s no command and no message. Telltale scent · Fifi (part)
Cellar, Jeeves’ room: take the box of crackers. Food · Jeeves’ room
Outside the kitchen: give bone to dog, then look in doghouse while Beauregard is busy. You get Celie’s healing necklace.
Library: look magazine if you skipped it in Act I. Read no longer works here — the Act II script forgot to allow it.

Act IIIThe doctor and the monocle9:00 PM → 10:00 PM

The densest act in the game. You acquire the monocle — which unlocks ten separate entries across the rest of the night — and you have a hard appointment in the attic. Work through every free move before you spend the fourth trigger.

Clock spine

9:00Watch Lillian read to her dolls in the playhouse.Grounds, near the dollhouse
9:15Find Gloria alone with the Victrola.Billiard room
9:30Catch Rudy and Clarence arguing in their room.Upstairs, Clarence and Rudy's room
9:45Walk in on Rudy and Fifi. Then go straight to the attic.Fifi's room

Free moves

Spy on the Colonel from the upstairs-left passage. He gets out of his wheelchair and pokes the fire. Combine with picking up his cane or cigar butt from a passage and you get both. Surprising secret · Colonel Used passages · Colonel
Find Wilbur’s body — the stable or the chapel, chosen at random. search body for the monocle. Murdered · Wilbur Useful item · Wilbur
Library: take the fireplace poker off the floor, then look poker with monocle. Close scrutiny · Poker
Monocle the handkerchief you picked up in Act II. Close scrutiny · Handkerchief
Fifi’s room: the cognac decanter has moved here. Use look decanter or the monocle — not look in decanter, which stops crediting once it leaves the parlor. Close scrutiny · Decanter Changed location · Decanter
Wilbur’s room: look bag — or look bed — and notice it’s gone. Changed location · Doctor’s bag
Celie’s shack: knock, then give necklace to celie. Inside, take the carrot. Befriended · Celie Food · Celie’s cabin
Stable: give carrot to horse, then open the gate and take the lantern. You’ll need it in Act VII.
Any passage: pick up the cane. Required to reach the bell rope.
Colonel’s room, while he’s out: the brass elevator key is inside the miniature cannon. put key in control, then go up. First visit to attic · 9:45
Attic: open the trunk — boots, insignia, gloves, cape. Monocle the boots. Come back in Act VI and notice what’s missing.
Bell tower: climb the ladder, oil bell, then stand clear and pull rope with cane. Take the crank from the fallen bell. Save first. Oilcan (1 of 2)
Suit of armor, downstairs hall: oil visor and open it — inside is a valve handle and a note. Oilcan (2 of 2)
Hedge garden: put handle in shaft on the nymph statue, turn it, push the statue. The staircase down opens. Secret entrance · Hedge garden

Act IVGloria in the gazebo10:00 PM → 11:00 PM

A quieter act. Most of the work is in the billiard room with the monocle, and outdoors, where three separate people are wandering the grounds and each one is a trigger.

Clock spine

10:00Spot Rudy prowling around outside.Outside the study
10:15Catch Lillian going through the Colonel's weapon cabinet.Study
10:30Wait for Ethel to stumble past, drunk.Outside the study — leave and re-enter the screen
10:45Watch Rudy and Clarence come to blows.At the Colonel's statue, front lawn

The statue fight credits Struggled · Rudy Struggled · Clarence

Free moves

Billiard room: take the broken record and look record with monocle — two fingerprints. Close scrutiny · Broken record
Gazebo or the well: Gloria’s body, location randomized. Murdered · Gloria
Any secret passage: pick up the cigar butt if you haven’t. Paired with looking at the Colonel’s cigar, this is the entry. Close scrutiny · Cigar butt
Dining room: walk in on Jeeves and Fifi. Romance · Jeeves Romance · Fifi
Ask Lillian about Jeeves in the study, if you missed the dining room.
Parlor: feed Polly a cracker. See Superstitions — twice total is enough

Act VPerfume in the passage11:00 PM → 12:00 AM

The single most important act for Super Sleuth, and the one nobody realizes they've failed. Three notebook entries depend on a scent message you can walk straight past.

Clock spine

11:00Spy on Lillian and the Colonel in his room. Then get into a passage.Upstairs-left passage → look holes
11:15Find Rudy eating alone.Dining room
11:30Find Clarence drinking alone at the bar.Parlor
11:45Enter the Colonel's room and find the wheelchair empty.Upstairs, the Colonel's room

Free moves

Southwest corner of the grounds: take the rolling pin. Monocle it, and monocle the bootprint in the mud beside it. Close scrutiny · Rolling pin Close scrutiny · Bootprint
Rose garden or the carriage house: Ethel’s body, location randomized. Murdered · Ethel
Fifi’s room: she changes into a gown at her mirror. Being present is the whole requirement — this is your second chance if you missed Act II. Telltale scent · Fifi
Ask Clarence about Rudy in the parlor, if Rudy’s gambling is still open.
Parlor: feed Polly if you’re using the two-cracker plan.

Act VITwo more in the maid's room12:00 AM → 1:00 AM

Jeeves and Fifi are found together. This is a monocle act — three of the ten close-scrutiny entries are here, and the sleeping powder finally explains a lot.

Clock spine

12:00Catch Lillian hiding something in her suitcase.Your room
12:15Find Clarence writing at his desk.Clarence and Rudy's room
12:30Knock at Celie's door.Celie's shack
12:45Find Rudy outside with Beauregard.Outside the study

Free moves

Fifi’s room: Jeeves and Fifi, both dead. Murdered · Jeeves Murdered · Fifi
Same room: look decanter with monocle — two sets of fingerprints. Close scrutiny · Decanter
Bathroom: search the wastebasket for the sleeping powder bottle, then monocle it. Close scrutiny · Sleeping powder
Parlor: look glass with monocle — the empty glass on the bar. Close scrutiny · Glass
Study: look dagger or get dagger. It’s gone from the cabinet. Note that get dagger works even when Lillian blocked the cabinet earlier. Changed location · Dagger
Attic: check the trunk again. The boots have walked off.

Act VIIUnder the hedge garden1:00 AM → 2:00 AM

The longest free-move list in the game. Everything you've been carrying — lantern, matches, crowbar, crank — gets spent down here, and the basement settles eight murder entries in a single walk.

Clock spine

1:00Lillian in the playhouse again, and worse this time.Dollhouse, grounds
1:15Read Clarence's notebook.Clarence and Rudy's room — read book
1:30Catch Rudy searching Lillian's room.Your room
1:45Pray with Celie.Chapel — enter by the back door

Free moves

Bathroom or Wilbur’s room: Clarence’s body, location randomized. search body for matches. Murdered · Clarence Useful item · Clarence
Your room: take Lillian’s diary from the suitcase, then read diary and look diary with monocle. Taking it alone credits nothing — the suitcase entry only fires when you read or examine it. From suitcase · Lillian Diary (used twice) Close scrutiny · Diary
Study: the derringer is gone. look gun works; so does reach in case, which always credits you even though it replies that there’s nothing there. Changed location · Derringer
Hedge garden: down the statue staircase, then light lantern with matches.
Basement: walk up to the pile of bodies. This single act awards every murder entry except Lillian’s, whether or not you found them individually. Bodies · Basement + murder entries
Basement wall: find the metal plate, put crank on plate, turn crank. Secret entrance · Basement
Tomb: pry vault with crowbar on Ruby’s vault and take the pouch of jewels. Crowbar (2 of 2) Valuable object · Jewels
Chapel, if you skipped it: pry the floorboards and read the Bible.

Act VIIIThe attic2:00 AM → 3:00 AM

Short, and the only part of the night with real time pressure. Dawdle and the Colonel dies before you reach him.

The sequence

2:00Find Lillian's body in the hedge garden.Always the hedge garden
2:15search body → skeleton key. Take the derringer and the bullet lying nearby, then load gun with bullet.Same screen
2:30Detour: the Colonel's room. look bag — Wilbur's doctor's bag, open on the floor.Upstairs — only if you still need this entry
2:45Unlock the attic door at the top of the stairs with the skeleton key. Rudy and the Colonel are fighting.Top of the upstairs stairwell
3:00shoot rudy. Not the Colonel. Not neither.Attic

Thirty years of guesswork

Superstitions you can stop performing

The game never tells you when you've scored, so players reverse-engineered the notebook by feel — and got a lot of it wrong. Every item below has been checked against the decompiled scripts.

"Look at Lillian twice while she's spraying perfume, and beat her out of the bathroom."

None of that does anything. What awards the entry is being in the bathroom when Lillian fully leaves, or entering your room from Ethel's while she's in there. There's also a third path: entering the bathroom at any point later, provided you never sat with Lillian and Ethel in your room and never read the front-door note in Act VIII. Most players who claim the ritual works actually picked it up by accident through that third path hours later.

"Feed Polly one cracker every act — all seven."

The entry is "objects used more than once." The check is simply whether the box has fewer than six crackers left. Two feedings does it, in the same act if you like. You can also just eat two crackers yourself. The parrot's squawks are flavor hints, not score.

"You have to find all twelve secret entrances separately."

Entering a passage credits every entrance and exit it connects. Four pushes — both armoires, the clock, the mirror — plus the hedge-garden staircase and the basement crank cover all twelve.

"Use the smell command wherever perfume might be."

The smell command's check is inverted in the passages. It reports perfume before you've earned anything and reports nothing once you have. No command awards a scent entry — they're all about being in the right room at the right moment.

"Track down every body individually."

Walking up to the pile in the Act VII basement awards the lot. You only need to find Wilbur, Clarence and Lillian yourself, because they're carrying items you need — and Lillian isn't in the pile anyway.

"Look at the Colonel's and Clarence's cigars, then find the butt."

One cigar is enough, paired with picking up the butt. The Colonel's works in any act. Clarence's only registers in Act I (parlor) and Act II (dining room) — the Act III and Act V scripts are missing the line that awards it, and give you no indication of that.

"Watch Rudy and Fifi struggle in her room in Act III."

That scene awards nothing — the flag never gets set. Fifi's struggle entry comes from the Act II scene in Rudy's room, which is far easier to miss. Since the Act III scene is a required trigger, plenty of players assume they're covered when they aren't.

"Take Lillian's diary."

Taking it credits nothing. "Took object from suitcase of: Lillian" fires when you read the diary or examine it with the monocle — both of which you need for other entries anyway, which is how this stayed hidden.

"Ask Wilbur about horses to learn he gambles."

He'll mention racehorses, but the Act II script credits Rudy's gambling by mistake. And in Act I the parser reads "horses" as the Colonel's horse, so you get nothing. Get Wilbur's gambling from the magazine or the dining-room conversation.

"You can play the whole game without eavesdropping."

Almost. Two conversations have no alternative: Clarence and Gertie in the Act I parlor (the only source of Ethel refuses to sell) and Clarence and Wilbur in the Act II dining room (the only source of Wilbur's embezzlement). Everything else has another route.

"The DOS and Amiga versions play the same."

One entry differs. Used secret passages · Lillian needs the passage perfume plus, on DOS, witnessing the Colonel and Rudy struggle; on Amiga and Atari ST, it needs the perfume plus actually shooting Rudy. Sierra fixed it six months after the DOS release. Either way, shooting Rudy is what you want.

How to read this

The rule that governs everything

Scoring: the notebook, not points

Working the parser

The four secret passages

Clock spine

Free moves

Clock spine

Free moves

Clock spine

Free moves

Clock spine

Free moves

Clock spine

Free moves

Clock spine

Free moves

Clock spine

Free moves

The sequence

Laura's notebook — all 76 entries

Superstitions you can stop performing