Welcome to the walkthrough of 'Nancy Drew: Alibi in Ashes'. This is the 25th title in the Nancy Drew series by Her Interactive and with it, my first 'Guide'.

Welcome to the review of the Special 25th Edition of the Nancy Drew series, Alibi in Ashes! This mystery was very intriguing and fun as you get to explore all over town as Nancy, Bess, George, and Ned. Of course since Nancy is in jail, you won't explore town very much with her, though!

Please note that this game at times is VERY non-linear aside from a few sections. Quite often its very possible to play parts that are not in the same order as this walkthrough.First - Take a look at the case file on Nancy's Desk when you first start up the game. Here you'll learn that Nancy and her boyfriend and friends (Ned, Bess and George) are all competing as a team in the towns annual 'Clue Challenge' contest where teams are given a set of clues to try and find a special medallion.With that, click the note on the desk to begin the game fully. Here you'll get two different difficulty choices, Junior and Senior. Picking Senior will remove various hints and task-list assistance as well as make some puzzles in the game tougher than if you were to pick the Junior. As I go through I will give help for both difficulty levels.-The note, or 'Clue' tells Nancy via anagram to check the thermostat at the town hall.TOWN HALLTake a look around before entering the town hall's storage room, specifically take a gander at the large iron nugget, used to create River Heights' first anvil. Enter in and Nancy will get locked in the storage room.Quickly take a look at the emergency prodcedure on the right of the door and try and memorize the route it suggests.

If you cant remember, ill point out directions when needed.Next: The thermostat. Take a peek and Nancy notes a strange snowflake ice-cube, stuck to the thermostat. Suddenly the wiring goes out and starts a fire. Turn and head to the doorDOOR PUZZLEA pretty simple puzzle here.

Simply click to pick up the various boxes and items, right click to rotate them and place them one on top of another to create a tall tower to the open window above the door.Take too long however and Nancy will pass out from the smoke earning you your first game-over. Once you get all the boxes in place, Nancy will escape from the room.TOWN HALL ESCAPENow that Nancy is out of the storage room, she still has to get out of the Town Hall. Simply opening any door other than the escape will get Nancy a face full of fire and another game over. To escape follow the plans as seen before.This basically means go straight ahead and continue on the hallways until you get to a split path. Take the right path and continue down until you can take the next right.

Go right and follow the hallway all the way down until the door at the end. Open that up.As soon as you'll escape, you will see the various 'Suspects' for this game. Alexei Markovic, Deirdre Shannon and Toni Scallari are all watching the fire.

Suddenly Brenda Carlton rushes Nancy, accusing her of starting the fire. With that Nancy is taken in for questioning by Chief McGinnis.

ARRESTEDNancy Drew is arrested while at home. Off to the police station where Nancy is allowed to make calls. Make one to Carson Drew (Nancy's Father) and then call Ned, Bess or George (It doesnt matter which) but for speed's sake in this section, call Bess as shes the closest to Town Hall. Nancy needs that note she had that led her to the Town Hall in the first place!Also: Calling 911 is also advised, if not now then any point in the game will do.

Doing so will add a award to the end of game tally.From now on, the phone will help change character to character be it playing as Nancy, Ned, Bess or George. Certain characters have certain actions and phrases only they can use. All characters (apart from Nancy, for now), share infomation between each other through the 'Wiki/Journal' functions on each persons respective phone.Characters do not share inventory, if any items need to be given to a different character, they must be placed in the strongbox by the Police station door. In addition: Characters can only swap via Nancy. For instance if you are playing as Ned and want to go to Bess instead, you must first call Nancy, then call Bess.If you use all the characters you can, another award will be added to the end of game tally.Regardless of which character picked, exit the area you are in and head to the town map.

This map is full of different locations however only five locations can be properly visited. They are:- Town Hall- Scoop- Antiques Store- Nancy's Home- Police StationHead off to the (now charred and burnt) Town Hall. Take a look on the ground of the car-park to find the note. Pick it up and then head to the police station. Place the note in the dropbox and call Nancy to change over.POLICE STATION - NANCYThe Chief tells Nancy that she can continue her investigation as long as he doesn't catch her. There is a board where she can compile evidence and he will look at it when Nancy has enough compelling evidence.Nancy is now let out of her cell and told that she can investigate, with limits.

Take a look around the police station. On the wall is a wooden shuttered board, the evidence board. Across the course of the game, any evidence linking suspects to the fire will be placed here. For now the charred note is the only thing on here, placed directly on the 'Nancy' area.On one of the tables is a pack of snacks and things from Hannah (Nancys Mum). Clicking on the snacks will get Nancy to start munching away.

Do this enough times and another end-game award will be unlocked.Also in the room is a fingerprint scanner (password locked), a book on 'Investigating Arson', an evidence locker (locked and needs a key). On a desk you will also see an empty media player. Enter the forensics lab and also notice the gas chromatograph machine on display. Head back out and over to the Chief's office door to overhear a phone conversation.

Apparently hes lost the evidence locker key at 'Pancake City'. Call George or Ned and transfer the case to them.One last thing in the Police Station.

While playing as Nancy, do NOT leave the station or you'll find yourself smack-bang with another game-over. KEY HUNT - GEORGE OR NEDAs George or Ned, head right to the in-game map and zoom over to Pancake City. After a quick talk there, turns out it may be at Mabel Rose's house instead. Go there only to be directed to the Antique store. Head there.As a warning: If there is anything which needs doing in the Antique store, do NOT send Bess in there. On sending Bess in, she will automatically knock a vase over and be barred from setting foot in the store.Talk to Alexi about the key and he'll mention how the Detective was here and how he left a new item on the shelves.

Check the shelves to the right of the main desk to find a large white and green pot. Click on that to begin the puzzle.KEY PUZZLEYou'll see a set of buttons and a set of bars. In order to grab the key, all the bars must be removed.

Clicking each button causes not a set of bars to change position. Leaving the puzzle at any time will cause it to be reset back to its original state (This is mostly the same with the other puzzles).I will order each button (1-6 in Junior mode and 1-8 in Senior mode). And guess what? Its time for our first 'Difficulty split' puzzle with a different solution for each one.JUNIOR DIFFICULTY: With the top-right being 1 and then going clockwise, click buttons 3-5-1 to slide all of the bars out of the way.SENIOR DIFFICULTY: With the top-most being 1 and then going clockwise, click buttons 1, 2, 5 and 6 to slide all of the bars out of the way.Grab the key and next grab the 'free vial' that is across from the new arrivals shelf. Next go right to the woodem box near it for your next puzzle.NUMBER PUNCHThis is a completely random puzzle, the numbers change each time you try it so I cant help much here. The aim anyway is to try and beat the high-score time by pressing all the numbers in order from 1 to 41.

Once again theres a difference in times.JUNIOR DIFFICULTY: 1:52 is the time to beatSENIOR DIFFICULTY: 1:26 is the time to beatIf you do fail this three times however, on the fourth attempt, the timer will 'Malfunction' and freeze just before the set time limit, letting you win easily. On beating the game, a key will appear. Nab it.If you play this enough as well, the game gives you another end-game award. ALSO: if you press each prime number in order (aka: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41) you'll get yourself a easter egg to pick up too.Finally take a peek at the trunk, you cant open it yet with Alexi around but you can look on the floor next to the trunk and you'll find another set of keys.

Hang on, these are the keys for the Town Hall alarm system! Pick them up and take them with you.Head back to the police station. Drop both the locker key and the Town Hall key in the dropbox (keeping the key won from the number game) and call Nancy, changing the case to her.POLICE STATION - NANCYGrab the key from the dropbox and head over to the lockers. Unlock the lockers and then open the top section up. Take the 'Suspects Interrogation Disk'. Also read the computer password paper as well as the Krolmeister locking system manual.

Open up the bottom drawer and grab Nancy's phone, house keys and lockpick kit.Now that you have Nancy's phone, you dont have to use the Police station phone any longer. In addition, Nancy can now use the shared Journal system.KROLMEISTER LOCKThe middle drawer has a strange lock on it. Unlike the last puzzle, this is the same for both difficulties. The aim will be to light up the status bars at the bottom of the lock AND cause the connectors at the top of the lock to turn green.Pressing the tabs on the lock triangles will cause the connections to change.

Once again, leaving the lock and heading back to it will cause the connections to reset back to their original positions.From left to right triangles, press the top left, bottom, top right, bottom left and right tabs on the triangles to unlock the drawer. Inside read the police report on Nancy, revealing gasoline that was found on Nancy's clothes. MEET THE SUSPECTSGive Bess a ring. Its time to start chatting some more. First head inside the ice-cream store (Bess should auto-start at Scoop so theres no need for map travel here) and chat to Toni for a bit and try and exhaust all options. Seems Toni is set on Nancy being guilty.Head out and try and talk to Deirdre, oops. Seems they dont get along much.

Call Nancy back and have her switch to Ned. Zoom over to scoop and chat to Deirdre with Ned instead. From here learn that that Alexei was accused of a crime and that Deirdre was following Nancy at times during the Clues Challenge. She also shows Ned a note that was intercepted, meant for Nancy.Next (Still as Ned), head to the Antiques store once more and you'll see Brenda Carlton's news van parked outside. Knock on the van door and head in and chat with Brenda. Seems Brenda doesnt have any intention of helping Nancy and in addition, seems wanting for a slip-up for her news reports. Head back out and into the antiques store for a friendly chat with Alexi.

Ask about everything but leave asking about the town hall keys till the end. Once you ask about them, Alexi will throw you out of the store.Call up Nancy and change to her. Place Nancy's house keys into the dropbox. Call up Carson Drew and ask about Alexi's past as well as asking about what time the alarm was shut down at (2:17 PM). Time to change back to Ned again.As Ned, go to the police station, grab the house keys and head to Nancy's home.NANCYS HOMEFirst up, go into the living room and read the newspaper. There it will mention about road construction being done all over town. In addition you'll also learn that Scoop was shut for an hour the previous day and reopened at 2: 45 PM.Next head upstairs, at the bookcases theres a picture of Bess and George.

Also a newspaper which talks about how Nancy exposed an Antiquities Exhibit fraud. Now head into the main bedroom. Open the various drawers to find a to-do list and a set of lock-pick codes.On the cabinet across from the bed should be a book called 'On the Case', read that through as it lists the possible accelerants. Move over to the Cabinet in the corner and open it up. OOH chocolate. Help yourself to some and grab a fingerprint dusting kit. Next place Deirdre's note onto the desk to start dusting for prints.To do this, pick up the Brush and use it with the powder.

Use the brush with the note and put the Brush back. Use a piece of tape and place is onto the fingerprint to grab your first fingerprint.

Head to the police station and place the note and the print in the box. Change to Nancy.Head first to the suspect board. Remeber at this point we should have.Nancy - Burnt noteAlexi - Town Hall KeysDeirdre - Deirdre's noteMove over to the computer and use the fingerprint scanner. Insert the partial print into the machine and use PrintSync, Load the sample and search only to find no matches. Seems we will need more fingerprints. Thundercats episodes.

Switch to Bess and head over to Nancy's home for a finger-print dusting kit. Then head back to Scoop.ICE CREAM STOREOnce at scoop, chat to Toni again. Specifically asking her about where she was at 2:17 the previous day, along with her opinions on Nancy and Brenda. At some point a truck will arrive outside, causing Toni to leave the store.

Time to snoop! Be sure to be quick about this because, dawdle too long and Toni will come back giving you a game over for your troubles.Quickly zip around the counter and pick up the Town Hall pictures on the floor, under the counter. Also open the cabinet and note the ice-cube shaped trays around.

Next grab the closet key on the shelf too. Now head outside and to the map.

Head anywhere and then go straight back to Scoop. Toni should be back behind the counter now.Before we deal more with Toni though, lets grab Deirdre for a moment. Find out her opinion on Brenda. Seems Brenda hates Nancy a lot and once dressed up as her for a news segment.

She also gives an alibi and two phone numbers to confirm. Phone them up and discover her Alibi isnt really that watertight after all, neither were with her at the time.Back to Toni though, talk some more with her to find out more things such as her opion on Nancy's antiquities fraud exposure. Also question her on the ice-cube trays, her alibi and why she closed the shop the day before.Now - Ice Cream time!

Order anything from the menu and Bess will begin dusting for prints. Brush the powder on the item then use the tape to grab the fingerprint. Before we go - Make sure to order everything at least once from the menu for another end-game award. Zoom over to the police station and deposit the fingerprint in the dropbox for Nancy.Now: Change to Ned and head to the Antiques store once more.ANTIQUES STOREBefore entering the store, go look at the newspaper stand outside the store.

Next head in and ask Alexie about his Alibi. Immedietly we know his Alibi is false, his talk was cancelled (as seen on the newspaper right outside the store). Talk some more. If you get thrown out by asking anything problematic, just zoom back to the map, go anywhere and then come back and you'll be allowed back in once more.When you make an excuse, asking for a special something (train, gifts etc etc) and he'll leave the room for a moment. Once again its snooping time and once again, if you are not quick about it, Alexei will come back.

Another game over.Quickly try and dust the telescope for prints. Well okay try the metal polish at the back of the table instead. Next: The locked trunk. Go straight to it and use the key that you won from the numbers game. Read the newspaper about Alexei's past, look at the two bottles inside the trunk and the diary of Alexei's past adventures.Head out the store and back in to chat with Alexei. Talk to him about his past and also learn Brenda was snooping around.

Brenda is still outside so lets go see her!Open up the van and have another chat with Brenda, asking about her Alibi. Next head over to scoop. Flirt a little with Deirdre, invite her for a bite to eat. Deirdre will leave, letting you dust the cup she was using for prints. In addition, snoop around the table a bit, you should be able to find a notebook of Deirdre. Inside is a traffic ticket.

Nab that and take everything to the police station, placing the traffic ticket and the fingerprint samples into the drop-box. Call up Nancy.As Nancy, grab everything from the drop box, put the fingerprints into the scanner and place the lock-picking kit into the drop box. Now call Bess.SCOOP STORAGEAs Bess, head over to the station and grab the lock-pick kit. If you forget how to use this, the book is back at Nancy's house. Back to Scoop once more.Now: Time to play a minigame. Play the 'Swap A Lot' machine at the back of Scoop a bit.

If you play and complete enough puzzles on this game, another end-game award will be unlocked. At some point you'll hear the truck again. Leave the puzzle and notice Toni, once more has vanished.Zoom in and unlock the door behind the counter. Notice the toluene bottle and the paints around the room.

Theres also a locked filing cabinet. Use the lock-pick tools on the cabinet.LOCKPICK PUZZLEPlace in the lockpicks first. Yellow at the bottom right. Red at the bottom left. Blue on the upper left and Green on the upper right. These must be done in order. Next click the pieces in this order.Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Green, Green, Blue, Red, Yellow, Red and finally BlueRead all the files inside the Cabinet.

Seems Toni has plenty of reason to want the Town Hall gone along with Nancy. We'll confront Toni later. For now, head out and change over to Nancy. NEWS VANAs Nancy, give Carson Drew (Dad) a call and talk a bit about Toni. Time for the last fingerprint. Change to George and grab the last fingerprint dusting kit from Nancy's home and head over to the Antiques store. More specifically, Brenda's News van.Head in and chat with Brenda, asking how you can get in touch with her.

She'll hand you a card with her number on. Clamber out of the van and call it up and you'll get a recording. Answer yes for reporting breaking news and head into the Van. Brenda has already vanished? Anyway once again, snooping rules apply, stick around too long and you'll get caught and another game over will be given.Look around the van and look at the microphone. Dust that for prints and get the last print set we need.

While we are here though we should look for other things. Take a peek inside Brenda's makeup bag and you'll notice some nail polish remover. Aka: Acetone.For an easter egg, open and close the makeup bag repeatedly and soon one will appear to pick up. Head out of the van, drop the fingerprint at the station and call Nancy.FINGERPRINTSCollect the fingerprint and pop that into the fingerprint scanner.

You now have 4 fingerprints to compre the partial to. Simply move the overlay about to try and match it with one of the four prints. Guess who it matches to? Give Carson Drew (Dad) another call and inform him of this.Before we forgot, lets also check the traffic citation code on the computer 'Fileshark' program. Enter in RH627E401 and hit find to show that Deirdre ran a red light at the time the alarm was switched off.

Switch over to George and pick up the 'accelerant chromatograph chart' from the fireplace in Nancy's home. If it isnt there, chat to Alexei, Brenda, Deirdre, Toni and Bess (whos outside the icecream store) and see if the game is missing anything.

Drive to the police station and place the chart in the drop box.Switch to Nancy and grab the chart, comparing it to the results from before. Click on the 45 under Isopropyl alcohol.EVIDENCE CHARTTime to make sure EVERYTHING is in place. Heres how it should look after moving the evidence around.Nancy- Burnt Note- Chromatograph chartAlexei- Town Hall Keys- FALSE ALIBI: Meeting Cancelled- Ether in trunkToni- Secret plans for town hall- Town hall photos- Lied: Scoop closed, not open- Snowflake ice trays- Toluene in supply closetDeirdre- Citation Letter- Stolen Note- Friends didnt back AlibiBrenda- Fingerprint on note- Acetone in van- Says she was working.

Cannot confirmWith all this in place, call up Chief McGinnis and he will check the suspect board and let Nancy go. Now Nancy can leave the police station at ease. There is now also no longer any need to change characters for the rest of the game. MEET THE SUSPECTS (AGAIN)Now that nancy is free from jail for now, probably a good idea to meet up with the suspects herself. First lets go to the Antiques store.

Chat with Alexei and discover more about his past and a time capsule he was looking for. Next up: Brenda in her news van. Chat with her and grab a calling card too while you are there.Next up: Calling Carson Drew (Dad) to discuss Toni and Alexei. Zoom to Scoop and chat a bit with Deirdre and finally Toni, talk to her about the litigation about the Town Hall. This will unlock another end-game award for you. With that done, drive back to the Antiques store.

Time to get snooping once more.SOUND FILTER PUZZLEOutside the news van, call up Brenda and report breaking news. Zip inside the news van and notice the screens with an interview between Brenda and Bess. Deirdre is in the background. Wonder whats going on there.In order to find out whats going on, you'll need to set all the different sliders to certain points. CONFRONTATIONIn the tunnels, ignore the doors for now and just go straight to the end of the hall and climb the ladder there. You'll come out right by the Town Hall!

Go back down and check each door. Each one is labeled. Find the one marked 5C21B and use the key on the door.Inside is all the evidence we need!

Boxes full of isopropyl alcohol, ice cube trays, matchboxes and more. Before grabbing any evidence, grab the screwdriver from the top of the far box. The less time we waste the better. As soon as you grab the evidence bag, Brenda will appear with the (now busted) jammer in her hand. She taunts Nancy and locks her in.A timer will start, you must escape before the timer finishes or its game over.

Quickly turn around from the door and push the boxes out of the way. This reveals a door. Use the screwdriver on the hinges to break open the door and go through into the maze.Using the notes from before (The puzzle in the Dirt book) you should be able to make your way through this maze. AWARDSIn this game there are several different awards to find.

Heres all of them and how to get them.- Audio AnalystListen to every single interview tape from beginning to end. Dont skip any of them.- Belly FullGetting Nancy to eat a large amount of food items from the care package will unlock this award.- CartographerVisit at least 10 places that you can visit from the main map or more while playing.- DairyliciousEat every single item on the menu at Scoop at least once- Easter EggFind either easter egg in the game.

Game or Patch Questions?