Ten Clues for Mr. Polkinghorn - Charlotte Armstrong

Story: Ten Clues for Mr. Polkinghorn

Author: Charlotte Armstrong

Source: EQ’s Lethal Black Book

Story Number: 97

Polkinghorn is a mystery writer who calls in the police to report strange signs of life in his neighboring house which to be vacant for a period of 10 days. 3 convicts had escaped the prison a few days back and 2 out of them were supposed to have drowned. But the police are yet to track down the third person and the problem for them is they don’t know who among the three survived! And they suspect that this third escapee was occupying the empty house before he fled.

Polkinghorn tells the police that he could help them if they could tell him about these escaped convicts. When he gets the description of the three men – an Italian with only one foot, a New York man named Sparrow with grey hair and grey eyes and a young Navy seal from Kentucky, the writer is happy to point out and explain in detail the 10 clues which the police have missed – 3 of them point to the one foot man, 1 points to the man from Kentucky and the remaining 5 point to Sparrow. When the occupants of the house arrive, they are asked to explain these 10 clues. The residents come up with some great explanations to the presence of those 10 anomalies – with each one adroitly explained, the great mystery writer’s hypothesis is shattered one by one and he quickly takes leave. The police do catch the third convict based on the eleventh clue provided by the residents and it turns out to be the one who was selected as the least likely by Polkinghorn, a fact which makes the writer agree with the police that the life is not quite so strange as fiction!

Thieves’ Bazaar - W. L. Heath

Story: Thieves’ Bazaar

Author: W. L. Heath

Source: AH’s Tales To Make You Quake & Quiver

Story Number: 96

This is just the second story that Heath contributed to Alfred Hitchcock Mystery magazine. The story is set in Karachi in Pakistan in a Chor(thief) Bazaar – a market in many Asian tourist cities where stolen goods are sold at throwaway prices.

Jan and her Father are on a world tour and they have reached Karachi as the final leg of their tour. Jan is accompanied on her shopping spree by Dave, whom she met on the ship. When they are conversing about buying gems, they are accosted by one Thomson, who is immediately branded as a shady character by Dave, who prides himself in recognizing a ‘Shady’ anywhere. Thomson tells them that the most important thing in buying gems is recognizing a valuable one when you see it – a talent which neither Jan nor Dave know about. He recommends a place where they could get the gems for a good price and at the same time be confident that they were not swindled. He also tells them that they wouldn’t be able to find it on their own and that he would take them there himself. Dave smells a rat but he fails to talk Jan out of it. So, he decides to accompany her and keep an eye out for trouble.

They end up in a shop in the Thieves’ Bazaar, the shop owner displays a lot of gems and Jan settles for a good looking Sapphire. The price also turns out to be extremely reasonable! It all works out as a smooth transaction and they return back to their ship. Dave feels that something has indeed terribly gone wrong but he can’t put his finger to it. The Sapphire looks genuine and the price is certainly not exorbitant. When he shares his thoughts with Jan, she also agrees that she felt the same way when she was in the gem shop. Nothing untoward happens till the next day. When Dave returns back to his room after Jan & her Father fail to keep up their appointment with him, he is perplexed to see the gem owner and a few other guys thoroughly searching his room. He is quickly conked over and when he comes around his room is in a complete mess. Though he was anticipating something bad to happen all along, the actual outcome turns out to be a lot more shocking and surprising than he had ever imagined with only one fact turning out to be as he had expected – that Thomson was indeed a ‘shady’!

Double Exposure - Ben Hecht

Story: Double Exposure

Author: Ben Hecht

Source: EQ’s Twentieth Century of Detective Stories

Story Number: 95

Quote from EQ: “This story is a brisk, authoritative, witty model of the newest psychiatrist crime story, with sharp, shrewd irony and a kind of brimstone brilliance…”                   

Noted Psychiatrist Dr. Caleb Mudie has been murdered by his newly married wife Felicia on their honeymoon. Felicia is being tried for the murder and another Psychiatrist Dr. Hugo decides to come to her aid and defend her on the witness stand as he has a lot of background knowledge about Mudie – which if presented to a court, would force any jury to acquit. The story is narrated by Dr. Hugo to his best friend asking him to judge whether Hugo was a hero or a villain.

The story in all its complexity reveals the brilliant psychiatric shrewdness of Dr. Hugo – how he first manipulated Mudie to get rid of Felicia’s suitor, how he manipulated Mudie to go ahead and marry Felicia and how his manipulation led to the final demise of Mudie – 2 perfect murders committed so deftly and so cunningly that no punishment could ever be meted out to Dr. Hugo by the law - all carried out with the sole purpose of getting rid of his competitors and have Felicia for himself!

Challenge To The Reader - Hugh Pentecost

Story: Challenge To The Reader

Author: Hugh Pentecost

Source: EQ’s Twentieth Century of Detective Stories

Story Number: 94

“A tantalizing tale of mystery and deception by one of the most versatile and accomplished of modern master – a tale still as probing and provocative a puzzle as you have ever matched wits with ….” quotes the introduction from Ellery Queen, who incidentally was also responsible in providing the very apt title to this story which was originally titled “Darling, It’s Me!”

Nancy Bradford and her daughter are found brutally murdered in their apartment, the doorman of the apartment sees a man talking on the phone, is invited to come over, he watches the man step out of the elevator on Bradford’s floor and an hour later the two mutilated bodies are found, the doorman stays in the lobby but there’s no sign of the murderer as both the elevator and the stairs which open into the lobby was under constant observation by the doorman. This forms a very small portion of the story.

Two men who are very interested in the Bradford murders end up in a conversation regarding the murderer when they are out fishing. The rest of the story revolves around these two men , and as the tale progresses, the reader becomes increasingly aware that one man is the murderer and the other man is the detective. The question is: which is which? At various points in the story, the reader decides he knows; then with consummate cleverness, Mr. Pentecost twists the very fact which made up the reader’s mind think one way into making him think exactly the opposite!

The Stripper - Anthony Boucher

Story: The Stripper

Author: Anthony Boucher

Source: EQ’s Twentieth Century of Detective Stories

Story Number: 93

He was called Jack The Stripper because the only witness who had seen him and lived had described the glint of moonlight on bare skin. After six murders in three months, the only clue that Lieutenant Marshall has is the fact that the murderer is always naked when he commits the murder.

Sister Ursula calls Marshall and tells him about her professor friend who has sent a mail to her informing her about his knowledge of the identity of the stripper. But Marshall gets this news too late for the professor is found dead in his house – killed by one of his three roommates as the door to the house was locked from inside. The professor, in his mail to Sister Ursula, has left a clue to point to one of his roommates as the naked murderer.

But Sister Ursula needs much more than the religious clue which her friend has left for her – she inspects the rooms of all the three suspects and the clean freshly made bed in each of the rooms with one anomaly gives the vital clue to catch the murderer red handed!

Death At Stonehenge - Norma Schier

Theme: Authors from the pages of AHMM

Story: Death At Stonehenge

Author: Norma Schier

Source: Alfred Hitchcock's Tales to Make You Quake And Quiver

Story Number: 92

The name of Norma Schier rang a bell but couldn't place it till a simple google search gave me the result - it was featured first by Tomcat and then later by Patrick on their blogs in reviewing the collection of short stories The Anagram Detectives. For a detailed analysis of the stories, please check here and here. This story written in 1969 is a late entry in the author's output though it looks like a deviation from the anagram puzzles. A simple search through the listing of AHMM magazines and anthologies didn't yield any other entry for her.

Chief Inspector Harlan Faulkner is called in to investigate the death of Felicity Carmichael, an archaeologist who was assisting the research activity at the Stonehenge site. The body at the Stonehenge site looks as though she was being sacrificed as part of a ritual but the Inspector who is extremely knowledgeable in the matter knows that the scene has been set up by a person of somewhat cracked brain.

Her  husband believes that she was having an affair with her fellow research scientist Donat but Donat claims that it was strictly a professional relationship. Donat has an alibi for the time of the crime - he was with another lady who also happens to be the consulting psychologist for Felicity. The clues are fairly provided for the reader to arrive at the solution before the Inspector lays his trap to nab the murderer - a person whose characteristics have been well anticipated by the Inspector!

Martin For The Defense - Jaime Sandaval

Theme: Authors from the pages of AHMM

Story: Martin For The Defense

Author: Jaime Sandaval

Source: Alfred Hitchcock's Tales to Make You Quake And Quiver

Story Number: 91

Jaime Sandaval was a pseudonym used by Dan J. Marlowe for a group of detective short stories that appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and Mike Shayne’s Mystery Magazine. This story is a pure court-room drama in the tradition of a Perry Mason story but without the dramatics of the famous lawyer sleuth.

Martin is a lawyer who won't take a case without a retainer. Mickey Bananas has an earlier conviction for burglary and this time, the charge is grand larceny for stealing an oil painting from a cathedral supposed to be worth two hundred thousand dollars. Defending Mickey seems to be a pretty hopeless situation as there are six witnesses, all nuns, who saw him steal the painting and he was later caught red-handed with the booty on him. The only alternative left for Martin is to prove that the painting was a forgery which would throw the grand larceny case out of the court. But he is in for a surprise when the prosecution brings in a star witness, a witness who valued the painting before it was donated to the cathedral, a witness who has around 20 years of experience in analyzing Italian oil paintings, a witness who happens to have written the only manuscript on the topic. It is a battle of the legal mind versus the expertise of the art critic and the appraiser - and as in so many court room procedurals, it's no wonder as to what the outcome would be but it's still a jolly good ride to see another expert fall prey to the guiles of a defense lawyer!