Title:
Dressed to kill
By
Author: Laird Long
Tag line: All the Halloween party guests were
in costume, but Maggie saw through the murderer’s disguise!
Police characters: Random police officers.
The gist: Millionaire Wayne Morton’s wife is throwing a Halloween party
and has asked guests to come in full costume with masks to disguise their identities.
Her husband’s reputation as a ruthless businessman and all-around
unpleasant human being ensured that the guest list was short. The hired caterer was still not there at 6:45
(party starts at 7:00) so Maggie, who was hired to serve drinks and food, was
asked to man the door and direct guests to the living room. She stood in a dimly lit hallway and greeted two pirates, a robot, a 1920’s
gangster couple, a fairy princess, and two super heroes. Next a ghost entered and went down the hallway. She noticed that his shoes were beat-up. Mrs.
Morton directed Maggie to go upstairs and summon Mr. Morton as all the guests
had arrived, and so did the caterers…at 6:58 PM. Maggie found Mr. Morton dead on the floor of
his study, the victim of a messy stabbing. Blood everywhere. The knife was
still protruding from his chest. The
police were called. Mrs. Morton said the
knife was one of the ones she had had in the carving set on her counter. There
was indeed a knife block with one empty slot.
The police ordered everyone into the living room announcing that before they called in
Crime Scene they have some questions.
Maggie overheard one officer say to the other, “Look for bloodstains on
the guests’ costumes. The murderer must
have been spattered.” Maggie studied the guests. She saw the robot, two pirates, the fairy
princess, two gangsters, a tramp, and two super heroes. No one had any blood on them. Before the police could begin their questioning, Maggie blurted out that she knew who the killer was.
Crime scene: Halloween party at industrialist Wayne Morton’s mansion.
Clues: The costumes. Beat-up shoes.
Suspects: All the party guests, seeing as how no one liked the host.
Red herrings: None, unless you consider a late catering company as being
possible suspects but it’s hard to kill
someone and also make warm puff pastries at the same time though.
Solution: The tramp. He
originally appeared at the house dressed as a ghost. Knowing his costume would most likely have to
be disposed of, he wore a tramp’s costume underneath. Maggie remembered the beat-up shoes and
realized she hadn’t seen a tramp among the costumed arrivals.
My two cents:
Anyone who has ever read my blog knows how I feel about stories that are
factually inaccurate. I’m so busy saying
to myself, “Oh, for Pete’s sake, that would never happen” that I drift out of
the story.
Have you ever hired a caterer for an event? They show up 4-6 hours before
the event to prepare the food. This
story has the caterers being late… 15 minutes before the party is due to start
and they still have not arrived. That's a little more than late. That's a no-show. Maggie was
hired to serve drinks and hors d’oeuvres.
Where did the hostess think the food was going to come from if the
catering company hadn’t been there yet?
Any why didn’t Maggie just go and serve the drinks? That was her job. But no, the hostess, a wealthy woman who
lived in a mansion and had staff, had Maggie, a stranger, greet her guests at the door. I
guess the guests just helped themselves as there was no mention of any other
hired help in this story. The caterer
arrives at 6:58…perhaps with a big bag of McDonalds chicken nuggets?
Okay, cut
all that nonsense. What a waste of words,
not to mention it’s just not germane to the story. Just
have Maggie be the person who greets guests at the door from the first sentence
and get on with the story. If the author intended to have the late caterers be a red herring, it just didn't work. Not only that, with all the masked guests, we don't need more suspects in this story.
A note of
technical accuracy: Responding uniformed
police officers don’t question people at a murder scene. They secure the scene and call the detective
bureau, who then calls in the crime scene unit.
This author has two lowly cops doing
everything. Also no police official
would question guests together, or even let them gather together (they could taint each
other’s memory and view of what they saw), and certainly not before Mirandizing
them. Very loosey-goosey police work
here. You know how much I hate that.
Another
note: mansions do have living rooms, but
are ritzy parties held there? More
likely the affair would have been in the ball room, the conservatory, the
library, the den…anywhere but the living room.
Also the story opens with Maggie standing in a dimly lit hallway. Sounds like my house. For a mansion I picture a large, airy, well lit foyer with an over-the-top
chandelier, spooky decorations dripping down the walls, tons of black and orange candles reflected on the shiny clean marble floors, and a center table holding an ornate
pumpkin and flower arrangement. It’s either
a mansion…or they’re having the party at my place. Make
your details fit the story.
The bottom line: The solution was too easy. You didn't even need the beat-up shoes.
