Well it didn't take long did it? Have just started Agathe Christies' Evil under the sun have got to the spiral staircase and have managed to procure the binoculars from Mrs Castle but cannot get them to work. I click them in inventory and get a wheel or cog so click on the windows and one of several things happen Poirots says he cannot see that far unaided, even though I have clicked on the bins and got the cog, He also says nice view but nothing of interest, sometimes I get, I do not understand your logic! The unaided bit means the bins have gone back into inventory! Wha.....? I proceeded with the game anyway and having a dark blob in the sea managed to get the bins to work on the peice of wood with the broken life belt, so they do work elsewhere. What am I doing wrong again please? I turn twice to the right first but have actually tried every window in the tower! Do I have to go outside? If so where?

Hi Lozza,

Yes, to see the submarine and the sailboat you need to be in the tower. Double check that you have selected the binoculars correctly so that an icon of them is showing in your cursor before you click on the cog. Be sure also that you *are* clicking on the cog and not a different section of the window where the binoculars won't work. If there's nothing interesting to see out of any window view, then nothing will happen and Poirot will just make a general comment.

Okay thank you. I am pretty sure that I am clicking on the cog. Sometimes when I click the binoculars I get them as my cursor but when I click on the cog the cusror turns into an eye which means the bins have gone back into inventory? I will go back and make sure I am clicking in the correct place.

Hope it works for you this time.

I seem to be doing all correctly, well as far as I can see. This is what is going on. At the grassy mound Poirot says no interst. behind curved bannister says he can't see without aid. When click on cog the bins turn into the eye. pointed wondows. no interest. rock view turns to eye when cog is clicked. As far as I can see only four options. Perhaps there is something i should have done?

Just one thought - are up at the tower or at the balcony or shore?

The tower is accessed at end of the hallway beside Poirot's bedroom. You have to climb stairs to it (not the main stairs).

Yes I am in the tower. Am I right in thinking there is a spot where it all happens? On the shore when I see the floating wood I can see it quite clearly so easy to click on but while in the tower, I cannot see the sea, in any but one window view let alone see the boat with red sails. As I say I have played all three of these great games as downloads and I am sure this is where I got stuck last time. I have a feeling it was either in the window view with the mound or rock,(which is also the only window veiw withe sea), but Poirot says nothing of interest. The cog is wild not just active when you are on or near the thing to view with the binoculars. So have clicked every square inch of all the windows! Now deperate.

These are from the walkthrough. It happens when you are in the position just after you come up to the tower:
Turn right twice and use the binoculars. See Major Barry on his red sailed sailboat. The boat looks like it's named Parsimony.
Turn right and use the binoculars again and see a periscope of a submarine.

As far as I could see I was doing all that I had to. I re installed the copy I had as a download and the tower sequence was so easy I nearly missed it! I also realised that all the cut scenes are missing from my disc version, mentioning that to my son he thinks it may be that I need to keep the disc in my machine while playing to get cut scenes. Without which I would not get the shot of the boat would I? Unfortunately I cannot do that at the moment as I am having the "office" painted my discs along with all my books are piled unceremoniously in an other room so cannot easily be accessed till time to put back on shelves. I am happily enjoying the download version but will check all is well by playing with the disc in when I find it! Do you think my son may be correct? Sounds feasible to me. By the way sure you know this but they have the currency of Britain wrong in the game. The price for the book was too much for the 1940's also the mention of 5pence and 50 pence are decimal which did not happen till the 1971. Not important but a fact. Should have been ten shillings, (50p) and one shilling (5p). thank you for all your patience with me so far. Please let me know if you think my son is correct or not?

Your son could well be right -- particularly as you now know that you have no problem at the same spot with the download version.

Thank you once again for your enduring patience. By the way my son loves your um, slogan is it? Bleat Watson etc. I played the game he hasn't. Any other Sherlock's about at the moment I should be watching out for do you know? Also am I right in thinking that AWE games have another Agatha in the pipeline. The ABC Murders? Nearly finished Evil under the sun so looking for good game to play.

The quote is from an ACD Holmes story, The Red Circle.

The ABC Murders was cancelled as an adventure game and only developed as a casual hidden object. They aren't planning any more Agatha Christie adventures, unfortunately. I enjoyed them too.

As for new Sherlock games, there's a puzzle/adventure coming out on Nintendo 3DS, called The Frozen City. It isn't being transported across to PC, though. The follow-up to Testament of Sherlock Holmes has just entered development, but it'll be a long while before that's anywhere near ready.

The cut scenes were completely missing from Evil in the Sun" in the Triple Pack version I bought and I later discovered it was a known "fault" of that particular release.
[And you can't complete the game if they are missing.]

But in the "Double Pack" I subsequently bought (which carried Murder on the Orient Express and Evil Under the Sun) the cutscenes were all there.

[I still have "And Then There Were None" as a single release and it requires a patch. But the patch is nothing to do with cut scenes.]

Really? I thought when they announced Testament they said it was going to be their last one. Am I wrong? Hope so

Work has already begun on #7, mj2c.