L.A. Noire five-star walkthrough and newspaper guide

Homicide Case 6: The Quarter Moon Murders

Investigation: Central Police StationInvestigation: Pershing SquareInvestigation: Hall of RecordsInvestigation: LA Public LibraryInvestigation:Westlake Tar PitsInvestigation: LA County Art MuseumInvestigation: Intolerance SetInvestigation: Christ Crown of Thorns

Investigation: Central Police Station

Examine all three clues laid out in front of Cole to get the first clue, which leads to Pershing Square.

Investigation: Pershing Square

As soon as you arrive, head straight for the fountain. Ignore Rusty's warnings and jump up to the upper tier of the thing.

Once up there, you'll find a couple of new clues laid at the feet of the statues.

The first is the Social Security card of the Black Dahlia herself, Elizabeth Short.

The second is another excerpt from Shelley pointing you to the next destination.

Check your map, and you'll find that "cave overgrown with plants" corresponds neatly to the domed skylight at the Hall of Records. Make that your next destination.

Investigation: Hall of Records

Ask the guard how to get up to the chandelier. If you're not sure where to go, just follow Rusty, who'll make his way there automatically.

Once you've found the room, head up the ladder and get ready for a tightrope-walking minigame.

Take it slow and try not to fall too many times, and this challenge should be a breeze.

On the chandelier, you'll find another two clues.

The first is Deidre Moller's missing watch...

... and the second is another bit of Shelley.

Before you can figure it out, however, you'll need to swing the chandelier from side to side until Cole can leap off it to safety.

Check your map again. The talk of "temples" and "science" in the Shelley poem recalls one building in particular:

Investigation: LA Public Library

This seems a little more complicated than it is; all you have to do here is pick your way along a linear path that will take you up and down scaffolds in an effort to make it up to the roof.

When you finally get up there, check the corner shown below for your next puzzle pieces.

The first is Antonia Maldonado's religious medallion.

And the second is yet another piece ripped from Shelley's writings.

Ruin, annihilation; hard, black deep; what does that conjure images of?

Investigation: Westlake Tar Pits

Getting across the tar pits takes a while, but it's not too dangerous so long as you keep moving and stick to the path. Just make sure you're stepping on boarded walkways (just visible through the muck), and you should be fine.

At the little island in the center of the pits, look in the shade of the tree to find the next clue.

The first, unsurprisingly, is Theresa Taraldsen's missing white shoe.

The second is yet another Shelley snippet, this time talking about spheres.

The art museum, incidentally, is home to a rathernoteworthy sphere-within-a-sphere sculpture.

Investigation: LA County Art Museum

Like the other challenges, the art museum's hedge maze looks daunting, but is actually quite easy. For all its twists and turns, there are only a few places where you can actually pick from more than one path. When you get to the first one, turn right, then immediately turn left past the threshhold. After that, just go straight past the next intersection, and you should reach the spheres sculpture momentarily.

The clues this time are Celine Henry's garnet ring...

... and another Shelley excerpt, this time talking about "Thrones, altars... monstrous and barbaric shapes," and the "ghosts of a no-more-remembered fame."

Hmmmm. What landmark have we been to that neatly fits that description?

Investigation: Intolerance Set

Once you've arrived, head for the back of the set and climb up the tall staircase.

Almost immediately after reaching the upper level, your platform will come loose, forcing you to balance it. Whenever it starts to pitch in one direction, justtake one or two steps the opposite way and you should be able to hold out until Rusty can help.

Once you're out of the woods, climb down one of the ladders on your left.

Below, you'll have easy access to the throne - and your next two clues.

These include Evelyn Summers' typewriter-key ring...

... and one final excerpt from Shelley, this time mentioning a "thorn-wounded brow."

You're not in the clear yet, though; after you read the Shelley excerpt, the set will start to come down around you. Make a run for it.

Think back to the "thorn-wounded brow" line. Your next destination should be obvious.

Investigation: Christ Crown of Thorns

After the initial confrontation, look to the south from the altar area, and you'll see two open doorways leading to the door of an outbuilding called the presbytery. Head over there and go inside.

Go to the kitchen, and you'll see a gold-handled door. Open it and prepare for horror.

Inside the room, start out by investigating the blood-filled bathtub.

Next, examine the tray of surgical tools by the sink. Get a good look at each one.

After that, look a little further down the counter for a statue of Prometheus, a Greek Titan with whom our killer clearly identifies.

Finally, climb down into the pit behind Rusty. The rest is just a matter of chasing the killer through the tunnels and trying to kill him before he does the same to you.

Next page: The Black Caesar

Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.