Black Dahlia is a suspense thriller based loosely on the unsolved California murder of Elizabeth Short, nicknamed "Black Dahlia" for her favoritism towards black clothing.

The game is a point-and-click puzzle-solving adventure with live action cutscenes. Full 360 degree horizontal and limited vertical panning allow the player to scan each scene with the mouse. Jim's in-game notebook acts as a journal as it records everything of importance that he has examined.

Black Dahlia has over sixty puzzles dispersed over nearly as many locations. They range in difficulty, style and type including jigsaw, manipulation, code breaking, mazes and object based. Well publicized bypass codes can be used to "auto-solve" them without compromising the game, since no score is kept.