The story was interesting and so was the world, but I did find the mystery to be pretty, well, elementary. I think that may be a weakness of trying to make a mystery game that encourages you to look at as little information as possible.
Thanks for playing! I think I didn't want to make it too hard (I don't really remember my thinking since I made it in 2015) because it's very common for people to get negative scores in Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective so that could be frustrating for them. But I probably over-corrected.
Eh, that's a matter of opinion--you're right that if it was more difficult it would quickly become frustrating that the game penalizes you for visiting more locations.