Title: I spy
By
Author: Marianna Heusler
Tag line: Had
the person who’d stolen the brooch been seen by the neighborhood watch?
Police characters: Detective Kevin
McCarthy and Detective Lola Wheeler
The gist: Mrs. Middleton came home to find her valuable
brooch had been stolen. There were no
signs of forced entry. The home at been
locked and the alarm activated. Three people had keys and alarms codes; Iris,
the housekeeper; Larry, the contractor; Alison, the dog walker. While Mrs. M was speaking to the detectives a
neighbor came over and reported that she saw someone dressed in all black with
a black baseball cap and sunglasses come out of Mrs. M’s house this
afternoon. She couldn’t tell if it was a
man or a woman but she believed the perpetrator saw her in the window watching.
The
detectives speak to the dog walker and asked where she was between 1:00 and
2:00 today. She said she picked up a
customer’s dog and took him for a 45-minute walk, then went to her next job. She was at Mrs. M’s at 10:00 in the morning to
walk her dog. The police told her
someone had broken into Mrs. M’s home and stolen several pieces of jewelry
including a brooch and that there was a witness. The dog walker said she had nothing to worry
about with regard to a witness because she wasn’t there.
The
detectives next spoke to the contractor.
Again the cops told him what was stolen.
He claimed he wasn’t there today and that he was waiting for some
kitchen cabinets so he could work on her kitchen. He said he saw the brooch
when he was last there. He said that
Mrs. M was showing it to the cleaning lady and then left it on the window ledge,
which he thought was odd as it looked expensive. He claims he saw the cleaning lady pick it up
and examine it closer. He said today he
had been working on another customer’s house but that he left for lunch. When told about the witness he said, “Well,
she didn’t see me because I wasn’t there and the diner is in the opposite
direction.”
The
housekeeper admitted to seeing and handling the pretty brooch last week when
Mrs. M showed it to her, but denied stealing it. She said she was home today cleaning her own
home. She said Mrs. M was careless with
her jewelry and perhaps misplaced it herself. When told about the witness, she said, “Then
that clears me.”
Crime scene: Mrs. Middleton’s home.
Clues: Only the real thief would know it was a woman
who was the witness because he saw her, and that the diner was in the opposite
direction of where she was.
Suspects: The
three people with keys and the alarm code.
Red herrings: Mrs. M was careless with her valuables.
Solution: The
contractor took the jewelry. He referred
to the witness as she, something only the burglar would know.
My two cents: So the neighbor sees
someone suspicious, wearing all black, coming from her neighbor’s house but she
doesn’t call the police? Hmpf. Thanks neighbor.
The cops are
running around telling everyone what was stolen. That’s just not done.
This was
pretty easy to figure out. The solution
didn’t mention that the diner was in the opposite direction of the neighbor who
saw him. Maybe they ran out of words? This is not the author’s fault. This is poor editing.
I think the
tag line was supposed to be funny. Not
sure. It wasn’t.
Other than
the police blabbing about what was stolen, there were no other real problems
with this story. It read well, the
pacing was good. I thought the clue was
too obvious but at least there was a red herring and three suspects. I can’t give it 5 stars because it’s quite
boring, but I can’t give it less than 4 either.
Old women
and their brooches. Can’t we come up
with something more modern? How about having
the bad guys steal a Wii?
