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Danger By Design Spoilers

Welcome to the new Computer Game Spoilers section of my gaming website. I added this section because I recently received questions about the plots of two different games which, to my surprise and embarrassment, I had totally forgotten the answers to. Then, to my further surprise, I was unable to find any existing website that would refresh my memory about the plots of computer games... lots of puzzle solutions, but no basic plot summaries.

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So I figured I'd better write some of them down while they're still fresh in my mind, just in case I or anybody else wants to refer to them at some point in the future (or in case anybody suffers a major game glitch and just wants to know what was supposed to happen in the end-- I get letters like this from time to time.) If you haven't finished Danger By Design yet and you don't want the plot of this game to be revealed to you, then you don't want to read this page. Please go back to my main Danger By Design page, where I give tips and reviews without giving away any of its plot.

But if you are looking for plot spoilers, just scroll further down the page to find them!

Plot Summary

The setup and basic plot of this game is based on the 1989 Nancy Drew novel Death By Design. Nancy has been sent on an undercover mission to Paris, posing as a fashion designer's assistant with the intention of investigating the designer's increasingly bizarre behavior for a concerned financial backer. The designer, Minette, has begun wearing a white facemask at all times; she has become short-tempered, dumped her boyfriend suddenly, fired three assistants, refuses to take phone calls, and has fallen far behind on the fashion line she is supposed to be producing and a dress she is designing for the First Lady. Upon investigating, Nancy learns that Minette has also been receiving threatening letters, phone calls, and packages, and her windmill studio has been vandalized. Meanwhile, she also learns about the previous owner of the windmill, an elderly lady named Noisette who had been an encoder for the French Resistance during World War II and was said to have hidden artistic treasures away for safekeeping during the war. Nancy finds the treasure and also the truth about Minette: she has gotten in with a group of organized criminals who want her to design the First Lady's dress with material that has a built-in wire so that they can spy on the upcoming World Summit she will be attending. They are the ones who have been threatening her. Nancy defeats the surprisingly strong Minette in a martial arts battle, takes the bugged dress to the police, and the day is saved.

Character Subplots and Secrets

Minette: The fashion designer Nancy was sent to spy on. (She apparently goes only by her first name, like Cher or Madonna.) She is a real diva who throws elaborate temper tantrums and makes life miserable for her assistants by giving them silly tasks with incomplete instructions and firing people at the drop of a hat. As described above, Minette has been working with organized criminals to help them spy on the World Summit. This is the reason she was so behind on her fashion line (because she was spending so much of her time on the spy dress), the reason for all the threats and angry phone calls (they were from the gangsters who didn't have patience for her diva ways), and probably also her erratic recent behavior (just due to general stress over the situation.) The mask, however, has nothing to do with any of this-- in the end, her reason for wearing it is revealed to be an ugly tattoo that she got on her cheek which she was embarrassed by. To the best of my knowledge it is never revealed why Minette e-dumped Dieter no matter what you do.

Heather McKay: Minette's assistant. She has a crush on Dieter. She wrote one of the threatening notes to Minette out of jealousy over her relationship with Dieter. If you tell Minette this, Heather will be fired, and in the epilogue, Heather will not invite Nancy to the fashion show. If you keep Heather's secret, she will invite Nancy and let her participate in the show.

Dieter von Schwesterkrank: The German photographer. He is Minette's ex-boyfriend, and is still in love with her despite her mistreatment of him. Hans von Schwesterkrank was his great-uncle and told him about Noisette's hidden treasure, which Dieter has been searching for-- in fact, he originally asked Minette out to try to get access to the moulin-- but now he feels so heartsick over the breakup that he has lost interest in the hidden art and just gives all his clues to Nancy. He is not mentioned in the game epilogue.

Jean-Michel Traquenard: The fashion reporter. He does not have any secrets or subplots and is not mentioned in the game epilogue.

J.J. Ling: One of Minette's models, whose house Nancy is staying at. She has had to put on weight for this assignment because Minette designs plus-size clothing. She is a weird character who seems to get a kick out of randomly lying about things and is paranoid that other people might be lying to her too. Her agent apparently tricked her into taking her current modeling job with Minette, which she is not happy about. She is not mentioned in the game epilogue.

Minor Characters

Amy Grunhild: This is the family friemd of Nancy's who has sent her to Paris to spy on Minette, because Amy is funding Minette's studio and is upset by her erratic behavior.

Lynn Manrique, Hugo Butterly, Prudence Rutherford, Zu: You need to talk to these characters on the telephone to learn plot information, but they are never seen on screen and are not real suspects.

Noisette Tornade: She was the woman who lived in the windmill before Minette. She is deceased and Nancy learns about her only through old letters and other people's stories. She worked with the French Resistance during World War II and was in love with Dieter's great-uncle Hans von Scwesterkrank. It was she who built the puzzle-statues in the park.

Bess, George, Frank, and Joe: As usual in Nancy Drew games, these characters have no subplots and exist only to chat with Nancy on the telephone and deliver hints if the player needs them.