Title: Self defense
By Author: Tracie Rae Griffith

Appearing in issue #22, June 3, 2013

For sale date: May 23, 2013

Tag line:  Willy Armbruster had dodged a bullet.  Dale Garrison hadn’t been so lucky.

Police characters: Detective Kay and Sgt. Morgan

The gist:  Willy called in to say he had just shot Dale in self-defense.  Dale was the president of the company, while Willy was VP of operations.  He claimed he had been suspicious of missing money and had told Dale an audit was necessary.  According to Willy, Dale called him into the office from home after hours.  Feeling funny about the late meeting, Willie brought his handgun.  He claimed that even before he got to sit Dale pulled out a gun from his desk drawer and shot at him putting a hole in the wall behind Willy.  (There was indeed a bullet hole in the wall opposite the desk.)  Willy then shot Dale dead.  When the police arrived Dale was slumped over his desk with a handgun in his right hand.  When asked where Dale had kept the gun, Willie told police he kept it in his right-hand desk drawer.  Det. Kay opened the right hand drawer and noted it was large enough to have held a gun.  When asked what Willie thought Dale might have told the police if his shot had not missed him, Willie claimed there had been burglaries in the area lately, which was why Dale had the gun to begin with.

Crime scene:  Dale’s office.

Clues:  Bullet hole in back wall.  Gun kept in desk drawer.

Suspects:  Only Willie.  It was Det. Kay’s job to determine if it was murder or self defense.

Red herrings:  None.  Sort of.  (See my 'writing tips' on this story.)

Solution:  Det. Kay realized she had to open the desk drawer to look inside.  If Dale had pulled a gun and shots were exchanged, the drawer would still be open.  Willie had been embezzling and had killed the boss to keep him from reporting the crime. He then put the gun in Dale’s right hand, but out of habit shut the drawer.

My two cents:  Another solid story from Author Griffith.  Again, we knew from the get-go who did it, it was just a matter of whether it was self-defense or not.  I expected the solution to include the same old tired left hand/right-hand explanation and was pleasantly surprised to hear the open/shut drawer clue.  I have to say because I was sure Dale was left handed, I didn’t even see it coming.  And that’s rare for me.

Title: Power play
By Author: Phyllis Whitfield

Appearing in issue #21,  May 27, 2013

For sale date:  May 16, 2013

Tag line:  It was a dark and stormy night when one of Pete Patton’s many enemies came to call.

Police characters:  County Sheriff Eddie Smith

The gist:  The power is out in River Falls for a half hour.  At 8:05 Sheriff Smith gets a call that Pete Patton, who lives in the neighboring town of Glen Oaks, has been shot.  Nobody likes Pete.  He’s bad tempered and has made a fortune selling organic potatoes to fast-food restaurants.   Sheriff Smith meets Alex Till at Patton’s door, who tells him the body is upstairs.  Alex, the plumber, had an 8:00 AM appointment with Pete.  He said no one answered the doorbell but lights were on and since Pete was expecting him, he just went on inside and found Pete dead.  Alex said he got along with Pete but that he didn’t always pay on time. The coroner announced Pete was killed an hour ago.   

Pete’s ex-wife, Helen, wasn’t happy in the divorce. She lives in Glen Oaks. She wasn’t sorry that he was dead.  When asked where she was at 8:00 she said she was working on her computer.

 Pete’s nephew Jesse fought with him all the time.  Jesse lives in River Falls.  He said his uncle used Jesse’s savings to start the business and even though the money was paid back, Peter wouldn’t give cut the nephew in on a share of the profits.  He said he had been home been watching TV all evening with his girlfriend and she would vouch for him. 

Pete’s sister Connie was treated poorly by Pete. She lives in Glen Oaks.  She said they were family and she just put up with his mean ways.  She claims she was reading a good book at the time her brother was killed.

 Crime scene:  Pete’s home.

Clues:  The power was out at the time of the death.

Suspects:  Ex-wife Helen, Sister Connie, nephew Jesse.

Red herrings:  None.  We had four 'suspects' but not one of them had a good enough motive to even be considered as a red herring.

Solution:  Jesse was the only one who lived in River Falls.  He claimed he was watching TV all night but there was no power for a short time.  He didn’t know the power was out in River Falls because he was in Glen Oaks fighting with his uncle, a fight then ended up with him shooting Pete.

My two cents:   Well, there are a couple of things here.  Just because the power was out in one city doesn’t mean it was not out in the neighboring city.  The sheriff never asked if the power was out in Glen Oaks.  And it was only off for 30 minutes.  The wife said she was on the computer.  Computers work without power.  The sister said she was reading.  You can read without a lamp.  Jesse said he was watching TV all night, and he could have been.  Just because he didn’t say I was watching TV all night expect for 30 minutes when the power went out doesn’t make him a killer.

How many plumbers do you know that just walk into your house when no one answers the bell?

There were four people to keep track of and two cities.  It was a bit confusing and crowded in the ‘ole suspect room’.   Nobody had a really good motive to kill Pete.  He had paid back the money. His divorce wasn’t pleasant but whose is?  (And we didn’t all kill our exes.  um...we didn't, right?) Pete treated his sister badly, but she didn’t have to take it.  There’s no compelling reason to kill here. That along with the vague inference that the power must have been on in the neighboring city makes for a ho-hum mystery

Title: Swan Song
By Author Kendra Yoder

Appearing in issue #14, April 8, 2013

For sale date: March 29, 2013

Tag line: A scene-of-the-crime-investigation revealed an open-and-shut case!

Police characters: Officer Phil Perkins and his partner Officer Wendy Kerr

The gist:  Ricky, a musician, is shot to death in his home garage where the band rehearses.  The coroner believed the victim was sitting on a folding chair, was shot by a known person, and slumped to the floor dead.  The makeshift practice area in the garage looked like this: catty-corner from the chair was a music stand with a song book, on the floor beside that was an open guitar case holding an electric guitar, and in the opposite corner stood a set of drums.

Crime scene:  In the garage with the garage door open.

Clues: Ricky knew his assailant.  When questioned Ricky’s wife stated she was in the kitchen making lunch when halfway through a song she heard a bang.  Officer Perkins told his partner that the wife was lying.

Suspects: Ricky fired Bo, the lead singer, last weekend. Bo was a bad influence, always staying out late and drinking. Bo was furious and called Ricky a dead man before he stalked off stage.  Ricky’s agent had just been accused of skimming money and they argued yesterday.

Red herrings:  The fight with the lead singer and the fight with the agent.  Both were orchestrated to throw you off the wife’s track.

Solution: The wife said she could hear Ricky practicing his guitar when he was shot, yet his guitar was still in the case.  The wife was tired of her husband’s drinking and carousing so she decided to end her marriage the quick way and try to frame one of the men.

My two cents:  It is possible for someone to enter through the garage door opening, wave to Ricky to stop playing, Ricky puts down the guitar (most musicians are careful with their expensive equipment and lay it in the case when not in use) , and when he looks back up he immediately gets shot.  I think the wife’s statement should have been written better.  “Halfway through a song and she heard a bang” is not clear enough for the officer to think she was lying.  Also Bo stating that Ricky was a ‘dead man’ was a bit of a forced clue by the author.  I don’t know that much about the music world, but do ‘garage bands’ even have agents?

The last act

By Laird Long

Appearing in January 7, 2013 issue. 
For sale date: December 28, 2012.

Tag Line:  The curtain had come down on the drama critic’s career – and on her life!

The cops:  Two detectives; one male and one female

Overview: Two actors received a terrible review; one of them killed the drama critic who wrote it.

Crime Scene:  Living room of victim.  Time of death: 11:00 in the morning.

Clues:   A newspaper was lying next to the dead critic’s body.  It was open to the Arts and Leisure section.  The headline read, The Fatal Affair is dead on arrival, a blistering review of two actors in the play.  A toppled over chair was found next to a handgun.  There were no prints on the gun.  The victim had been sitting beside a tea table when she was shot.  On the table were a china teapot, creamer and sugar bowl, two cups and saucers.  One cup had the victim’s pink lipstick on the rim.  The other cup had a red lipstick mark to the left of the handle.  Both actor suspects were interviewed together.  The female actress wore heavy make-up.   The actor said he went to see the critic about the bad review at around 10:00 o’clock to talk to her, but when he left she was still alive.  The actress claimed she did not visit the critic that day.  One of the detectives asked them to both sign autographs on her pad claiming to be a fan.  The actress picked up the pen with her left hand.  The actor wrote with his right hand.

Red Herrings:  The actress had heavy make-up, which leads you to believe it’s her lipstick. 

Solution:  The actor did it.  He tried to incriminate the actress by leaving a lipstick imprint on the second teacup.  A left handed person picks up the teacup with her left hand and would leave a lipstick mark to the right of the handle on the cup.

My two cents:   This was a tight, solid mystery.  Even though the author told us the red lipstick was to the left of the handle, I didn’t catch on until I read the solution.  I saw the word “left” and assumed it was the actress.   

The only fault I can find is that the police never interview suspects together in real life.  That would give the two of them the opportunity to hear each other’s story  and cooperate to stay out of trouble.  Detectives don't have offices.  They use interview rooms.