Appearing in issue #5, February 2, 2015

Title:  Snow emergency

By Author:  Laird Long

  

Tag line:     The freshly fallen snow, dazzling white, didn’t blind the sheriff to the killer’s identity!

Police characters:   Sheriff James Prescott and Deputy Sheriff March.

The gist:   Sheriff Prescott was investigating the murder of Red and the theft of his Liberty gold coins he hoarded in his cellar.  The grisly discovery of Red’s body had been made by the mailman.  The battered body was found near the entrance to his storm cellar. The police found snowshoe tracks running from the road onto Red’s property and snowmobile tracks alongside the road.  The tracks were still visible and the frozen body of Red was covered in only a trace of snow telling the police that the murder and theft had happened after the snow storm had ended Sunday night and before the roads were cleared Monday night.  The snowshoe tracks were unique only in their actual depth in the snow which was rather shallow.   The snowmobile tracks were even less revealing.  Red’s place had been ransacked.

The police narrowed the suspects down to three men due to the fact that some random stranger wouldn’t have been out snowmobiling after a major storm and happen to have a pair of snowshoes handy and also know about the rumored gold stash.  Suspect #1 was Collier, a local old-timer who was slight and sprightly.  The two men had been friends until the day Red chased Collier’s grandchildren away with a loaded shotgun.  Collier admitted that Red had once told him about his gold horde in the cellar when they had been pals. Suspect #2 was Bryan, a phsy-ed teacher and all around outdoorsman.  Trim and athletic, he’d only been in town about six months and a background check revealed he had some serious financial troubles.  He had no grudge with Red, admitted to hearing the gold rumors, but didn’t know where the gold was supposedly hidden.  Suspect #3 was Jack, a burly 300-pound lumberjack who had had a recent run-in with Red about cutting trees too close to Red’s property. 

Sheriff Prescott dismissed two of the men but wanted to question the third one again.  Who did he suspect?

Crime scene:    Red’s shack.

Clues:    The weight of the men and the whereabouts of the gold.

Suspects:  Collier, Bryan, or Jack.

Red herrings:    None.

Solution:  Jack was too heavy to have left the slight snowshoe prints.  Collier knew the gold was in the cellar and wouldn’t have ransacked the house looking for it.  Bryan heard the rumor about the gold but didn’t know where it was.  He went out to investigate, and was caught by Red, so he killed him to keep him quiet.

My two cents:    It was only rumored that crazy old Red had a stash of gold coins, why were the police calling this a murder and theft? Without proof that there was ever any gold at all, never mind any missing coins, this should have just been a murder investigation.

The clue about the suspect’s weight has been done before, but the clue about the house being ransacked was a good one.  Collier knew the gold was supposed to be in the cellar, he wouldn’t have wasted time looking through the house.  The author slipped this clue in seamlessly.

The story read well, and the pacing was good.  The characters were believable and the situation was believable.

Appearing in issue #42, October 20, 2014

Title:  A loan-ly murder

By Author:  John M. Floyd

Tag line:    Angela Potts, as usual, had cracked the case.  The sheriff just couldn’t figure out how she’d done it!

Police characters:   Sheriff Chunky Jones, amateur sleuth Angela Potts

The gist:    Angela is sitting outside the courthouse playing a game on her phone.  The sheriff asks her for a ride because his car won’t start and both his deputies are tied up elsewhere.  There’d been a murder, so Angela was delighted to help.  Angela asked if the sheriff was questioning a recent suicide, a man named Zack.  Sheriff Jones said no, that Zack’s daughter authenticated the suicide note.  He added that someone had shot the banker, Jerry Westbrook, in the chest.  The bullet wound was located right above the top button of his cardigan sweater.  When they got to the bank, the bank manager told them the coroner was on his way and pointed to a distraught woman, Katie, a new customer, who had found the body.  The sheriff nodded to Angela to indicate she should talk to Katie while he examined the body, which was located in the man’s office.  Jerry was slumped face down in his desk.

     Katie told Angela that she had come in for a loan and found the man dead. Angela asked her to describe the body.  She described Jerry Westbrook as bald on top, eyeglasses, cardigan sweater and a gold watch.  She said she heard footsteps running out back and feels she just missed whoever did it.  Mrs. Potts remembered that Katie was the daughter of Zack who had tried to take out a loan and was turned down. The same Zack who had killed himself.  Sheriff Jones told Katie he needed to search her purse.   When he did, he found an automatic pistol with a silencer. 

     When asked how Angela was so sure Katie was the killer, she remarked that if Katie had been innocent she couldn’t have seen what she saw.

Crime scene:    Bank office.

Clues:    What Katie saw.

Suspects:   Katie.

Red herrings:    None.

Solution:  A cardigan sweater has buttons down the front.  Unless Katie had seen the victim sitting, before falling face down on his desk, she couldn’t have known it was a cardigan.

My two cents:    

His squad car won’t start?  I suppose that could happen. Even in a car that’s well maintained, mechanical things stop working.  But in that case he’d call one of his deputies to come get him.  Murder trumps most other calls.  He wouldn’t take an old lady to a murder scene. 

Dear Gawd, this is a homicide investigation and the sheriff has got a civilian questioning the main witness.

 When you can see the dead body just by looking in the office doorway, why would anybody, police or civilian, ask a witness to describe the body? They wouldn’t.  The author needed the shooter to say he was wearing a cardigan, so he threw that scene in there.

Where are the surveillance cameras?  All banks have inside surveillance. 

Bank managers don’t call the coroner.  They call 911.  The police arrive, they call in the detectives.  Those are the guys that call the coroner’s office.

By the way, just FYI, an automatic pistol ejects a spent cartridge.  I’m sure crime scene will match that casing up with her gun.

The police don’t get to search someone’s purse without permission.  Most times the police have the person sign a ‘permission to search’ form, a form that will hold up later in court.  Otherwise they need to obtain a search warrant. 

The title was good but the tag line was out of sync with the story.  He couldn’t have known how Angela knew, because he didn’t talk to the main witness and had no idea what was said. 

It wasn’t the best Angela Potts story.  It wasn’t the worst.  There’s always lots of little technical issues in these Potts stories.   Two stars for a decent clue (even though it was revealed in an odd manner) and good pacing.  

Appearing in issue #40, October 6, 2014

Title:  A party to die for

By Author:  Gary Delafield

 

Tag line:     Nothing kills a good party like cold-blooded murder!

Police characters:   Detective Frank DeSantos

The gist:    Mayor Palmer threw a party.  All of the city’s most influential people were there.  He had a jazz quartet, top shelf caterer, bartenders; the works.  The Mayor liked to have members of the police department at his parties as guests hence Detective DeSantos and the Commissioner were in attendance.  The Mayor planned to run for state office.  His tough-on-crime platform had garnered him some media interest, and he even started showing up at crime scenes.  At least the ones covered by the press.  The Mayor was greeting everyone at the party, and introducing people to his wife Lena, who didn’t appear to fit in as well as the gregarious Mayor.  When the Mayor shook Detective DeSantos’s hand, the detective noticed his pricey diamond tie tack and gold cuff links.  After a few hours, feeling that he had made his appearance and could go, Det. DeSantos was about to leave when he heard screams.  A woman using an upstairs bathroom had discovered the body of Lena on her bedroom floor, a window open, her jewelry box broken, and two bullet wounds in her head.

The coroner was summoned and the crime scene arrived.  Marks in the grass below the window suggested a ladder had been placed there. All of the guests had been detained and were being interviewed.  Detective DeSantos announced that since a gun had been fired they were going to do gunshot residue tests on everyone before they released them.  The Mayor, who appeared to be trying to control his emotions, volunteered to go first to show his guests how easy it was.  He sat in a chair, unbuttoned his shirt, and rolled up his sleeves.  Everyone’s hands and clothing were tested, as is customary for this type of test.  The process took nearly an hour but there were no positive test results.  Detective DeSantos knew who the killer was.

 Crime scene:    The Mayor’s home.

Clues:    The Mayor’s jewelry.

Suspects:  Per the story, some random burglar who broke in in the middle of a huge party to steal jewelry.

Red herrings:    None.

Solution:  When the Mayor shook hands, the detective noticed his expensive cuff links, yet when he went to do the test, the Mayor unbuttoned his cuffs to roll up his sleeves.  Knowing the gunshot residue test included shirts, the Mayor had changed his after he shot his wife, who was standing his way for state office.  He had staged the ladder marks before the party.

My two cents:    This was an interesting clue.  I didn’t catch it.  My only comment is about the gun.  Have you ever fired a gun?  Ever been around when one was fired?  They’re quite loud.  How no one heard two gunshots go off upstairs at a party filled with people is baffling.  There was no mention of a silencer.  Or perhaps the Mayor’s home was huge and sprawling, but then people wouldn’t be allowed to wander around upstairs.  That was the only loose end for me.  But it didn’t spoil the story.

 At first I thought it was a bad choice for the Mayor to kill his wife when there were dozens of people around, but on second thought maybe it was brilliant. Someone breaking in in the middle of a party would raise questions with the cops, but crooks aren’t always that bright and often do dumb things, so it wouldn’t be so odd that they would dismiss a random burglar theory right off.

 I don’t know about mayors showing up at crime scenes, but I do know the State Attorney does on occasion, so it’s possible.  The SA shows up at particularly heinous crimes where there’s good media exposure.  Hey, that’s the reality of public office. The man does get voted in.

The story was paced well; the police work was good; the motive was solid.  The title and tag line fit and didn’t give the killer away.   Four stars. 

Appearing in issue #37, September 15, 2014

Title:  A is for Apple

By Author:  Herschel Cozine 

Tag line:     Was the apple clutched in the victim’s hand a clue – or just a piece of fruit?

Police characters:   Unnamed detective and his mother-in-law Gladys.

The gist:    Local citizen and attorney Forrest Matthews was murdered.  He was found dead at a party thrown by Frank (a partner in Matthews’s law firm) and Judy Allen, where there were six guests: Matthews; Bill (worked at accounting firm) and Madeline Smart (a librarian); Patricia Mills (accounting firm) and Steven (techie type business owner); and Mary Owens (accounting firm).  Judy, Bill, Patricia and Mary were co-workers.  Matthews was found dead in the living room with a knife in his back and an apple in his hand, apparently clutched from the bowl of mixed fruit on a nearby table.  He had to crawl to the table to get it.

This information is relayed to Gladys, who loves to stick her nose in her son-in-law’s cases.  She begins to ponder the apple connection and comes up with every link she can think of much to the annoyance of the detective: An apple a day; an apple for the teacher; the Garden of Eden; Isaac Newton; William Tell; Adam and Eve; Snow White; Granny Smith, etc.

Gladys looked at the list of names and pointed out the killer.  How did she know?

Crime scene:    The home of the host, Frank Allen.

Clues:    The apple and the careers of the guests.

Suspects:   All of the guests.

Red herrings:    None.

Solution:  Apple is the name of a piece of fruit and also of a computer.  Steven Owens was a computer expert.  Turns out Matthews had lost a case that led to Steven’s cousin going to prison.

My two cents:    WW just loves old lady sleuths.  Author Cozine was smart enough to pick up on that and has created grumpy Gladys and her detective son-n-law who knows better than to discuss cases with civilians, but does it anyway to keep the peace in his home.  You gotta’ feel for him.  I may have lost count, but there are at least two stories that I can think of with these characters, and I suspect there will be more.

A couple of little things:

“You said there were no fingerprints on the knife,” was said by Gladys in this story, but this fact was never mentioned.  I think some editing was done here that messed with the detail flow.  It happens.

I know this is a cozy but think about it…you’re badly, badly hurt, stabbed for heaven’s sake.  It hurts. You’re bleeding.  You’re scared you’re going to die.  All you want to do is get help, get to a phone.  Your adrenaline is raging.  You’re disoriented from it.  Woozy and gasping what might be your last breath. Terror, panic, and regret may be buzzing around your head, but these stories always have the victim leaving a clue that takes thinking and connecting.  My killer is a techie, he works with computers, Apple is a brand of computer, oh look, there’s a bowl of fruit.  I’ll just painfully crawl over there and grab one and that will help the police figure it all out.  Talk about painful; it hurt to read the solution.

This is not a criticism of the story but what kind of moron stabs a guy at a house party that he’s a guest at?  Put on a mask and gloves, wear black, and ambush your victim as he’s getting in his car in the parking garage.  That guy deserved to get caught.  

Anyway, with all that said, the writing was good, the story flowed well.  Cozine is developing his characters for the long haul.  There’s wit and reader sympathy for the detective.  By the way, maybe the name of the detective was cut here because I’m pretty sure he had a name in the last story.  The clue was in the details and was not obvious.  The only thing I can complain about, although it was novel, is the improbable scenario of a dying man connecting apples with computer techies.

Four stars for Herschel.

Issue #29, July 21, 2014

Title:  The telltale clue

By Author:  Kendra Yoder

 

Tag line:    The killer mistakenly believed he’d left no evidence behind…

Police characters:   Detective Jillian Bennett and her partner Ed Mackin.

The gist:    A divorce attorney, after a struggle, was felled from a head wound and died.  His receptionist told police she arrived at work at the usual time, began to log into her computer, then heard a loud thump coming from her boss’s office.  Before she could get up to check it out a tall male, wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap, burst through the door, ripped his raincoat from the wooden coat hanger in the closest and ran out the door. He was not wearing gloves but had a handkerchief and opened the door with his forearm.  Video surveillance captures this man using the stairs instead of the elevator but he was slick enough to hide his face when in camera range.  Hoping for a fingerprint, Detective Bennett asked crime scene to sweep the office and reception area, but they were unable to find any prints, even on the large paperweight which was the murder weapon.  The CS techs told Bennett the place has been wiped clean; paperweight, doorknob, chair arms, etc.

Detective Bennett realized there was one place that he didn’t wipe.  Can you figure out where?

Crime scene:    Divorce attorney’s office.

Clues:    The raincoat.

Suspects:   One of the attorney’s disgruntled clients, or one of their husbands.

Red herrings:    None.

Solution:   The killer arrived at the office, hung his coat on a wooden hanger in the closet, and went in to have it out with the attorney.  Things went bad.  The killer wiped off every spot he could think of but in his haste to leave forgot that he had handled the hanger when storing his coat.  

My two cents:     This story had a clever clue.  Where oh where could that fingerprint be?  What did he forget?  Except the timing is off here.  The receptionist heard a loud thump, presumably her boss hitting the floor, and in the next second the killer bursts out the door.  He didn’t have time to wipe the door knob, the desk, the arm chair, the weapon, etc.   This altercation was planned.  He dressed like a man who didn’t want to get caught and wanted to keep his identify unknown, he snuck in up the stairs -- yet he takes the time to hang up his coat?

The story was well paced.  The police details were good.  But the timing and the fact that he even stopped to hang up his coat in the first place marred the story.

Three stars.

Appearing in issue #25, June 23, 2014

Title: The body on the beach 

By Author:  Kendra Yoder

 

Tag line:     The detective had to learn the victim’s identify before he could find the culprit!

Police characters:   Detective Clarence Melton

The gist:    A female body is found on Gilligan’s beach, the apparent victim of strangulation. The coroner estimated the time of death to be the night before. The victim’s identity was not known. The woman who found the body was out walking her dog.  She said she saw a blue sports car pulled off the road last night but thought it was teenagers necking.  She did hear a shriek but thought again it was them goofing around.  She got a partial license plate of TMJ.  Very shortly the victim was identified as a local woman from the next town over. The sheriff verified the dog walker’s whereabouts and did not consider her a suspect.  The police department found two cars that matched the description and had a partial tag of TMJ.  The detective told the first guy, a burly, tattooed bouncer, that a woman had been strangled on Gilligan’s Beach.  The man recognized the woman’s photo as a customer at his bar.  When asked if he saw her yesterday at the bar, he claimed he was off work yesterday and out with friends. The second suspect, a twitchy, hollow-cheeked, watery-eyed man was shown a photo of the victim and told she was murdered.  He said he didn’t recognize the woman and added he wasn’t anywhere near Gilligan’s beach. 

Crime scene:    Gilligan’s Beach

Clues:    Only the perp knew where the killing took place.

Suspects:   The two men with the partial plate of TMJ.

Red herrings:     I suppose the burly tattooed guy is a red herring.  I mean as opposed to the little hollow skinny twitchy dude.

Solution:   The second guy gave himself away when he said he hadn’t been anywhere near Gilligan’s Beach, as the detective never mentioned where the murder had taken place.  The woman had refused his advances so he murdered her.

My two cents:    Yawn. 

What a coinkydink that two men in town have little blue sports cars with the same partial plate.

Why the sheriff is blabbing to everyone that the victim was strangled at the beach is anyone’s guess.  It’s a rookie mistake.

What kind of crackpot murders a woman because she doesn’t want to have sex  with him?  And I don’t know why.  He sounds wonderful. I’m thinking there’s a long list of dead women in twitchy’s past.

I’m not sure why we had to have an unknown victim to make this story work.

To like the story, you have to like the characters.  The sheriff is not likeable.  He complains about the beach being a tourist trap, he sourly thinks the murder must have something to do with alcohol, he sighs and winces, and is just overall a tedious guy.

Two stars.  This story was dull, unexciting, lackluster, and lifeless.   Did I mention it was dull?

Appearing in issue #21, May 26, 2014

Title:  Rosie’s clue

By Author:  Marti Attoun

  

Tag line:    It appeared Miss Helen’s cat had some information she wanted to share with the detective …

Police characters:   Detective Jack Phillips

The gist:    Retired bank president, Helen Horton, lay dead at the foot of her townhouse stairs. Detective Phillips watched the EMTs load her body onto a gurney. Helen’s niece, Mary Ellen, her only relative, had split with her husband and had been living with Helen.  She heard the fall and called 911. She told police that her aunt had knocked on her bedroom door to tell her she was going for her morning walk and that she’d leave the door open for the housekeeper. Helen walked each day and was often seen with her colorful track suits, styled hair, and red lipstick.  Mary Ellen said the cat, Rosie, probably tripped Helen.  The housekeeper arrived and was distraught to hear that Helen was dead.  Helen had kept her on even though she didn’t need a full-time housekeeper since her niece had moved in.  The townhouse was immaculate and the detective noted that the bed was made and the bathroom fixtures gleamed.   The vanity held a soap dish and a denture cup.  He knew that Helen had recently reported some jewelry missing.  He speculated aloud that Helen may have interrupted another robbery.  When Mary Ellen heard that she claimed to not know anything about stolen jewelry but pointed a finger at the housekeeper.  The housekeeper was stunned that she would be accused of such a thing, started crying, and went to the bathroom to get a tissue.  While in there she saw that the cat, Rosie, had  knocked over the denture cup onto the counter top.  When the detective saw the spill, he knew who to arrest.

Crime scene:    Helen’s townhouse.

Clues:    The denture cup.

Suspects:  Mary Ellen, the housekeeper, or some random burglar.

Red herrings:    None.

Solution:  Mary Ellen wanted an advance on her inheritance and was angry when her aunt refused.  She argued with her aunt while Helen got ready to go for her walk.  Infuriated by Helen’s refusal she pushed her aunt down the stairs.  Though dressed for her walk Helen did not have her teeth in, but Mary Ellen had not noticed. As for the stolen jewelry last week the detective and Helen had been amused to find that the cat had taken the sparkly gems and hidden them.  Det. Phillips used the missing jewelry to explain the ‘crime scene investigation’ and to see who jumped at the chance to place blame.

My two cents:    Well, well, well.  Where do I start? 

There was the bit about the bed being made.  Well, who made it?  The housekeeper hadn’t arrived yet.  Was that supposed to be a red herring?

Next Helen said she was going to leave the door open for the housekeeper.  This full-time housekeeper doesn’t have a key?  Mary Ellen couldn’t let her in? What was the purpose of that bit of info?

So Helen did not have her teeth in yet.  Perhaps it was the last thing she did every morning before her walk.  Hardly a smoking gun.  

I’m confused about Det. Phillips using the missing jewelry to explain the ‘crime scene investigation’. For gawd’s sake, a woman was dead.  Isn’t that enough?

The story said that Helen had kept the housekeeper on even though she didn’t need to since her niece had moved in.  Well, her niece isn’t a housekeeper.  In fact, now the housekeeper has to clean up after two people.

The cat accidently knocked over the denture cup?  Those things are square and low and they have a snap-on top. How do you knock that over so that it spills out onto the counter top?  If it had fallen off the counter onto the floor maybe…

Once again the story was not complete.  You have to read the solution, which was almost a column long, to put the pieces together.   The cat knew who the killer was and tipped off the police.  Puuullleeese.  Two stars.