Suspect

Open the door to the manor house on Ashcroft Farm... 
and step into a world of elegance, deception and murder! 

From the crystal chandelier in the dining room 
and the magnificent fieldstone fireplace in the main 
ballroom to the sumptuous leather-volumed library, 
you re taken aback by the timelessness of this cen- 
tury-old southern mansion and its grounds. 
Everywhere there are antiques and mementos 
of Ashcroft's illustrious equine history. Here, some of 
the nation's greatest thoroughbreds have been sired 
... Mr. Cyrus, Stampede, Veronicana and others. 
But on this Halloween night, there's something 
different about Ashcroft's atmosphere. It's murderous. 

You're a newspaper reporter and a friend of the 
hostess. You've come to party with the world's most 
celebrated personalities: politicians, entertainers, 
royalty, power brokers and the idle rich. But now 
the evening has been spoiled by a deadly interloper 
. ..and fingers are pointing at you. 
You have hut a few hours before you're arrested. 
Fail to prove your innocence, and you'll be convicted 
of murder and imprisoned. There's precious little 
time to unmask the homicidal guest - or guests. And 
if you fail, you've got a lifetime to ponder your mis- 
takes in a maximum security jail cell at the Maryland 
Slate Penitentiary. 

Go ahead—enjoy the party!


Preface to the Story
Halloween night. You are a guest at a very exclusive party: the annual Costume Ball at Ashcroft Farm. You are mingling
with society's blue bloods and power brokers, sampling caviar and champagne, and enjoying the fine orchestra and the
outlandish costumes. Quite a treat for a newspaper reporter like you -- until someone plays a nasty trick on you. You're
framed for a murder you didn't commit. You'll have a hard time convincing the police of your innocence. You'll have to
figure out who did commit the heinous crime, and why. You'll need irrefutable proof. The murderer is no doubt watching
your every move. But you have only a few hours to escape the trap that's been laid for you.
The murderer is in your midst, laughing behind your back.

About the Author
Dave Lebling was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in suburban Maryland. He attended the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, and worked at MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science, where he developed an interest in computer
entertainments. He was a co-author of the original mainframe Zork. He has co-authored Zork I, Zork II, Zork III, and
Enchanter, and written Starcross and Suspect on his own

Suspect Special Commands
*ACCUSE (someone) OF (something) - This makes an accusation against someone.

*AGAIN - SUSPECT will usually respond as if you had repeated your previous sentence. Among the cases where  AGAIN will not work
is if you were just talking to another character. You can abbreviate AGAIN to G.

*ASK (someone) ABOUT (someone or something) - This is an impersonal form of the sentence CHARACTER, TELL ME ABOUT
(someone or something).

*CONTINUE - This lets you continue on to wherever it was that you were going. You can abbreviate CONTINUE to C.

*DIAGNOSE - This will give you a brief description of your physical condition.

*EXAMINE (something) - You will probably use this a lot.

*EXAMINE (something) CAREFULLY - You will probably use this o ccasionally, when you think that spending more time w ill give you
more results.

*GO TO (a location) - This command starts you on your way to a specific room; it will take you there one move at a time and will tell you
what rooms you're passing through and what events are happening there. Once you're on your way, you can continue on to your destination by
typing CONTINUE or C at subsequent prompts.

*SEARCH (someone or something) - This is a search for unusual items.

*SEARCH (someone) FOR (something specific) - This is a search for something in particular, whether unusual or not.

*SHOW (something) TO (someone) - You may get an interesting reaction.

*TIME - This tells you the time in the story.

*WAIT FOR (someone or some amount of time) - You may wait for some specified amount of time; if something interesting
happens in the meantime, however, your wait will terminate then. You may also wait for a character to arrive;
if something happens in the meantime, or if the character doesn't show up after a long time, SUSPECT will ask you
if you want to keep waiting.

*WAIT UNTIL (time) - This causes time to pass until the desired time arrives. If anything interesting happens
during this time, you will have a chance to stop waiting.