Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: The Thames Murders & Other Cases

You read, you argue, you accuse the wrong butler, and you love every minute.

3.7/5

Players1-8

Play time90+ min

WeightLight-Medium

Ages14+

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The verdict

A genuinely brilliant detective experience that lives or dies on your group's appetite for reading and arguing. Ditch the official score and it's one of the best nights you'll spend at a table.

Best for: Patient readers who'd rather argue over motives than push cubes around a board.

The full review

What it is

Here's the pitch. You're a detective in Victorian London, you get a case, and then you go where your nose tells you. Each lead points you to an address, you flip to that entry in the casebook, and you read what happens there. No dice, no cards, barely any rules. Just a map, a directory, some newspapers, and ten meaty mysteries. You and your friends sit around, follow hunches, and try to crack it before Holmes does. The whole thing runs on good writing and your own brain.

The catch

Now the honest part. This is reading. A lot of reading, out loud, which means it works beautifully with one or two people and gets awkward with eight, where one person narrates and everyone else zones out. Real players consistently warn about the difficulty too. Holmes makes leaps you'll never match, and the official scoring docks you five points per lead you chase, so you finish feeling outsmarted. Most folks online just toss the score entirely, and honestly, do that. Some older cases have fiddly logic gaps as well.

Who it's for

So who's this for? Patient people who light up at a good puzzle and don't need a flashy board to have fun. It's a fantastic pick for a casual group, for couples, or for easing non-gamers in, since the rules take thirty seconds to explain. Skip it if your table wants something fast, fidgety, or competitive, or if reading aloud sounds like a chore. Play it for the path, not the points, and it'll stick with you long after the box is empty.

What other players say

This write-up is grounded in real reviews and player discussion, not just one opinion. A few worth reading: