It's not necessary to examine everything in each scene in order to get maximum esteem points; that said, the information is interesting, and you might just learn something. This walkthrough only discusses the steps needed to earn maximum esteem and finish the episode.

Scene 1: Rose Street
*Grab the receipt from the deceased man's pocket
*Grab the red hair from the deceased man's right hand (click on each finger once quickly, then click on the hair)
*Click on the trough, click on the rope in the middle, then click on the trough again. Slide the garbage around until you uncover the knife located in the upper-right corner.
*Speak with the harlot; all you need to ask her about is the knife and then speak sternly to her, until she directs you to the Black Bull.

Scene 2: The Black Bull
*Play a game of Slide Thrift (poster located on the post between the guy to the right of Ned and the seated harlot) and win.
*Speak with Doyle (man standing to the right wearing a dark coat and a hat) - ask him his name, then ask about the watch.
*Steal the watch from Doyle's pocket without him noticing (key: smoothness + accuracy)
*Pick up the scrap of paper he drops after stealing the watch

Scene 3: Soho
*Go to the desk; pick the lock on the center drawer (same rules apply as in the watch game)
*Grab the journal entry in the drawer
*Grab the water glass from the top of the desk; use it on the wall with the door
*When listening to the conversation, move the glass around so that the voices are as clear and loud as possible (turn your sound on for this step) for maximum esteem points. (And no, you can't stop the murder)
*Grab Doyle's hat from the floor

Scene 4: Harlot's bedroom
*Sew up Hester's wounds. The key here is practice, but yes, it is possible to save her (I managed to do it with 1:25 left on the clock, and I have a laptop without a mouse). Start with the bottom wound, and work your way up. Blot, don't wipe with the sponge. Speed and smoothness are much more important here than they were with the other two games - work quickly! Accuracy isn't as much of a worry.

Scene 5: Fielding's office
*Answer the questions correctly: Doyle, watch, hair, scrap, journal.

That's it - hope it helps!

when I was listening at the door there was no clear indication that I should intervene. I realised I should have done afterwards when I lost the chance at reputation. I found that very unsatisfying.

You don't have to zip up the hussy to get through the game, but you do need a fast connection or it's annoying as hell.

reverse the last two

I've now gone back to try and speak to the harlot again, but her "speeches" are now just rows of xxxxxxs rather than subjects I can question her about. Going to start again ...

The chance at gaining rep isn't by intervening. Rather, it's moving the glass to hear the conversation clearly instead of the normal muffled sounds

Is there a trick to listening w/ the glass? I did pretty badly

Not really. It always changed with me. I found that just moving the cursor and stopping when I heard them clearly worked. Though, sometimes they're low, then on the otherside mid-way up... yeah. Just luck, I suppose.

I realized you made a simple mistake at the end and that is okay, everyone makes mistakes. So I just switched the order of the evidence. THAT WASN'T TOO HARD TO DO, lol