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from: the Asimov collection
221B BAKER STREET
1. >THE UNHOLY MAN<
The preacher was in fact a thief who had stolen the original
manuscript of Hamlet from an exhibit on the Riviera, where he
also acquired his tan. The preacher disguised the manuscript as
a Bible and had Longworth authenticate it for the Duke, whom the
preacher hoped would buy it. Longworth, however, in desperate
need of money, killed the preacher with Hamlet's sword and stole
the manuscript. Longworth, who does not smoke, planted the
German-made cigarette near the victim's body to throw suspicion
from himself; but in the process, he accidentally dropped his
packet of aspirin.
KILLER: EARL LONGWORTH
WEAPON: SWORD
MOTIVE: MANUSCRIPT
2. >SILVER PATCH<
Sir Reginald Cosgrove, in dire need of money, concocted a plot
to collect money from his large insurance policy on Silver Patch.
Sir Reginald painted over the silver patch on the mane of his
prize horse and painted a silver patch on the mane of Night
Dancer, another of his horses. He then switched stalls and
poisoned Night Dancer, who now looked like Silver Patch.
Realizing that he would have to take Oscar Switt into his
confidence, Sir Reginald arranged for his trainer to meet him at
the stables. When Switt refused to go along with Sir Reginald's
plan to kill Night Dancer, Sir Reginald became enraged and killed
the trainer, smashing him over the head with an ale bottle, then
stabbing him repeatedly with the broken bottle.
KILLER: SIR REGINALD COSGROVE
WEAPON: BROKEN BOTTLE
MOTIVE: INSURANCE
3. >THE CHAMELEON'S VENGEANCE<
Disguised as Inspector Lestrade, the chameleon planted explosives
in the violin case which housed the instrument Holmes was to play
in the duet finale at the Playhouse.
SURPRISE: EXPLOSIVES
HIDING PLACE: VIOLIN CASE
CHAMELEON: LESTRADE
4. >THE CODED MESSAGE<
Knowing death was near, Rudolph Hickle forced his canary to
swallow the valuable Eyes of Lucifer. Hickle then attempted to
notify his good friend, Harry Blake, by writing in a code the two
had developed years ago.
MESSAGE: PEARLS INSIDE CANARY.
5. >THE CLERK'S DEMISE
Two years after being dishonorably discharged from the British
military, Donald Hobson changed his name to Alfred Cooke and
tried to start a new life. Neither his eventual employers at
Scotland Yard nor his wife and children knew the truth of his
past. Manfred Maloney stumbled onto Cooke and attempted to
blackmail his old army buddy. To protect his secret, Cooke
killed Maloney with an icicle and tried to make it appear to be
the work of a radical political group.
KILLER: ALFRED COOKE (DONALD HOBSON)
WEAPON: ICICLE
MOTIVE: BLACKMAIL
6. >THE REWRITTEN DEATH<
Understudy, Vance Hillyard, planned to murder Roderick Garrick
to obtain the star's role; but, owing to Hillyard's color
blindness, the actor mistakenly killed Albert Boswell.
KILLER: VANCE HILLYARD
MOTIVE: STAR'S PART
7. >THE PILLAGED PAWNBROKER<
While cleaning out her husband's attic, Mrs. Phyllis Cahill
inadvertently included among the items sold to the pawnbroker a
secreted Ming vase John Cahill had stolen from the museum.
Cahill traced the priceless chinese objet d'art to the
pawnbroker shop and broke in, placing the Ming vase in an armor
helmet for protection and wrapping the treasure with newspaper
and string. When Miles Balfour surprised the thief, Cahill
killed the pawnbroker with a broadsword from the set of old
English armor and, as an afterthought, robbed the cash till to
throw suspicion from himself.
KILLER: JOHN CAHILL
WEAPON: BROADSWORD
MOTIVE: MING VASE
8. >THE EMPTY-HANDED THIEF<
As was her custom periodically, Mrs. Beatrice Galton opened the
wall safe in her husband's study to view the Renshaw Diamonds
bequeathed by her late mother. When she attempted to return the
gem tray, a stone fell to the floor and she whirled, stepping
firmly, only to find the "diamond" crushed underfoot. Numbly,
Beatrice smashed "jewel" after "jewel" with a letter opener from
the desk. She suddenly realized the truth. Her husband had
disposed of her diamonds, replaced the gems with glass replicas,
and squandered the money. Beatrice confronted Galton as he
entered the room with the latest packet of unpaid bills and, in a
fury, she stabbed him.
KILLER: BEATRICE
WEAPON: LETTER OPENER
MOTIVE: DISCOVERED JEWELS
9. >THE PECULIAR CHARWOMAN<
Tobacconist Daniel Ferguson, equally dividing his time between
his London and Liverpool shops, found in the arrangement an equal
opportunity to divide his affections. Surprised by his Liverpool
wife Bessie's visit to his London shop, Ferguson lured the
unfortunate girl into a shed behind the shop (used to
hickory-smoke certain blends), then dressed his victim in a
charwoman's garb, his immediate problem cured.
KILLER: DANIEL FERGUSON
MOTIVE: BIGAMY
CAUSE OF DEATH: SMOKE INHALATION
10. >THE DUCHESS'S DEMISE<
In her sitting room at Barrington Manor, the Duchess confronted
Alex Stafford, demanding he return the funds he had won from
cheating at the card table. Enraged, Stafford killed the Duchess
with a poker from the fireplace and attempted to establish an
alibi for himself using ventriloquism.
KILLER: ALEX STAFFORD
MOTIVE: DISCOVERED CHEATING
ALIBI: VENTRILOQUISM
11. >THE DEADLY CALLER<
Captain Victor Juno feared his stepmother's wild infatuation
for gigolo Lorenzo Marchetti and concocted a fiendish murder
plot to secure his inheritance. Juno returned to England
carrying a deadly but trained Indian cobra. He then adjusted the
radiator in his stepmother's room to emit a "whistling" pitch.
from his adjoining room, Juno released the cobra into a common
ventilator shaft opening near his stepmother's bed. As Mrs.
Lyons rose in the night hearing the gentle sound of movement, she
realized too late that "music" from the radiator pipes had
"charmed" the caller.
KILLER: VICTOR JUNO
WEAPON: SNAKE
MOTIVE: INHERITANCE
12. >THE SPINSTER'S WILL<
Learning that a vast diamond field had been discovered near the
worthless gold mine Miss Pierpoint was to bequeath him, druggist
Ward Ramsey substituted sleeping pills for the aspirin tablets
Miss Pierpoint kept at her bedside.
KILLER: WARD RAMSEY
WEAPON: SLEEPING PILLS
MOTIVE: DIAMOND MINE
13. >THE NETTLESOME BRIDE<
Penelope Holloway discovered she was making a bridal trousseau
for another woman to marry the man who once proposed to her.
Seeking revenge for her romantic jealousy, the seamstress stabbed
Imogene Boylan with a pair of scissors and stole the engagement
ring from her finger.
KILLER: PENELOPE HOLLYWAY
MOTIVE: ROMANTIC JEALOUSY
WEAPON: SCISSORS
14. >THE AMOROUS SAILOR<
"I wed two wives" should be Willie Dryden's epitaph. The white
ring of untanned flesh around Willie's ring finger tipped Holmes
to the fact that Willie had no business marrying Mitzi. He was
already married in Singapore to the lady in black. This femme
fatale followed Willie to London, learned he was marrying Mitzi,
took her place in the receiving line and gave Willie the kiss of
death.
IDENTITY: DRYDEN'S WIFE
MOTIVE: BIGAMY
METHOD: POISON LIPSTICK
15. >THE UNKNOWN VICTIM<
Enraged by his wife's confession of having had an affair with
Carl Seagram, Barry Auguston plotted the General's death. On the
pretense of showing him the house, Auguston lured Seagram into
the guest chamber. Auguston requested a look at Seagram's sword;
and when he had it, he forced the General to change into a tweed
suit and then stabbed him. He quickly shaved off the General's
moustache and beard, hoping no one would recognize him. He left
the body on the bed, along with the sword. He hoped Scotland
Yard would assume the missing General killed this man, then drop
the case when the General couldn't be found.
KILLER: BARRY AUGUSTON
VICTIM: CARL SEAGRAM
MOTIVE: JEALOUSY
16. >THE KIDNAPPED SONGSTRESS<
Winnie Oats and her manager Dale Rice are devious characters.
They used poor Lloyd Newcomb to get favorable publicity, then
tried to hang the kidnapping on him by planting the mask in the
reporter's carriage. Dale Rice wore the mask when he swept down
on the rope to kidnap Winnie, who was fully prepared for the
kidnapping. Winnie's husband, Guy, found out about her
involvement with Newcomb. Guy booked passage for himself,
probably bound for his lawyer and a divorce.
KIDNAPPER: DALE RICE
MOTIVE: PUBLICITY STUNT
LOCATION: PLAYHOUSE ATTIC
17. >THE POISONED POKER PLAYER<
Ralph Cotson was correctly convinced that Roger Stearns had
been winning at cards by cheating. When Stearns brought his jade
ring to Cotson the jeweler for repair, Cotson contaminated the
ring with cyanide poison, and waited anxiously for their next big
poker game.
MURDERER: RALPH COTSON
MOTIVE: CHEATING
HOW POISONED: RING
18. >THE GLUTTONOUS GOSSIP<
Harold Quail, the driver of a food delivery carriage, was madly
in love with Helen Thrush, wife of the hotel manager. When
Charles Maxwell exposed Harold's affair with helen in his gossip
column, Helen committed suicide. One night, as Harold was making
a food delivery at the pub, waiters carried Charles Maxwell out
to the carriage to be rushed to the hospital. Maxwell was
unconscious from an orgy of overeating. Filled with anger and
hatred for the journalist, Harold covered the face of the
unconscious man and smothered him to death with his bare hands.
KILLER: QUAIL
MOTIVE: REVENGE
METHOD: SMOTHERED WITH BARE HANDS
19. >THE WELL-INFORMED THIEF<
Dentist Harrison Beale was in dire financial straits due to his
compulsive cardplaying, when he decided to extract Mrs. Haigh's
life savings along with her tooth. Beale administered a truth
serum when the widow visited the dentist. While unconscious, the
widow answered all of Harrison's questions concerning where she
hid her life savings and when she would be away from her house.
THIEF: BEALE
HOW HE KNEW WHERE TO LOOK: ADMINISTERED TRUTH SERUM
DURING DENTAL WORK.
20. >THE LIMPING TAX COLLECTOR<
Pawnbroker Phillip Pupil was a very lucky man until tax
collector Clarence Alexander discovered that Pupil had filed
false income tax returns for years. faced with probable
imprisonment, Pupil decided to stab Clarence with a poisoned
needle and leave false clues of suicide. When Clarence took his
shoes off in the park and waded in the pond, Pupil stuck a needle
dipped in curare poison in Clarence's left shoe. When Clarence
put his shoe on and collapsed, Pupil rushed forward pretending to
render first aid. He used this opportunity to plant the
typewritten suicide note and the bottle of poison on Clarence.
KILLER: PHILLIP PUPIL
MOTIVE: TAX FRAUD
METHOD: STUCK POISONED NEEDLE INSIDE SHOE
21. >THE FALLEN ANGEL<
Hot air balloonist Willie Crayfield talked human fly Hector
Angel into a daring heist of the Crown Jewels stored in the
heavily guarded Tower of London. As Crayfield maneuvered his
balloon above the Tower, Angel climbed down a rope and entered a
vent leading to the room containing the regal gems. After
stealing the Crown Jewels, Angel commenced to climb back up the
rope into the gondola of Crayfield's balloon. Angel made the
fatal mistake of first handing the gems to Crayfield before
completing his climb. As soon as Crayfield grabbed the jewels,
he drew a sword and cut the rope Angel was ascending. Poor
Hector Angel fell to his death still clutching a section of the
severed rope.
KILLER: WILLIE CRAYFIELD
WEAPON: SWORD
HOW KILLER ESCAPED: HOT AIR BALLOON
22. >THE ALPHABET SPY<
The leaders of the militant German province of Prussia were
about to expand their influence by invading France. This
aggression became known as the bloody Franco-Prussian War, and
the date in the message marked Prussia's first assault. Bonus
points for any sleuth who pegged the year as 1870, five years
after the civil war.
THE MESSAGE: AUGUST NINETEENTH
THE EVENT: INVASION OF FRANCE
WHO SENT THE MESSAGE: KING WILHELM
23. >THE MYSTERIOUS SKULL<
If you know anything about the sport of rowing, you know a
"scull" is a racing boat used in the Olympics and the Henley
Regatta. The fishermen who pulled the coach from the Thames
heard the right word, but everybody assumed the wrong spelling.
KILLER: ROWING TEAM
HOW KILLED: HIT BY BOAT
MOTIVE: COVER UP DRUG USE
24. >THE MUSICAL MURDER<
The quartet's harpist was bitter over the theft of his musical
piece "Goodbye, Dolly," so he was determined to end William
Minor's career on a sour note. You had an edge on this case if
you know music and recognized that on the piano an E flat and a D
sharp are exactly the same note.
KILLER: JEFF DESHARPE
WEAPON: HARP STRING
MOTIVE: STOLEN COMPOSITION
25. >THE EYE OF THE EIGER<
Sir Edmund Hillman was an old fashioned hero: adventurous,
modest and widely admired. Dr. Simon "Sy" Klopps who scaled the
Eiger with Hillman deeply resented that his team leader gathered
"all the glory" for the climb. Motivated by intense envy, Dr.
Klopps utilized his considerable skills as a hypnotist to cause
Sir Edmund to disgrace himself by appearing to shoplift clothes
bearing the Eiger fashions logo. Holmes realized that Sir
Edmund's doodles of a green eye in the Eiger revealed the
solution to the case. Sir Edmund's subconscious mind associated
Dr. Klopps with the one-eyed monster of myth, the cyclops. The
green eye on the sketch suggested envy as a motive and hypnotism
as the means of the crime.
CRIMINAL: DR. SY KLOPPS
MOTIVE: ENVY
METHOD: HYPNOTISM
26. >THE RANDOM MURDERS<
Whig precinct worker Sean Byron set a new low in
unsportsmanlike conduct in a political campaign: he murdered
supporters of the opposition party. The incumbent candidate,
Whig Sir Leroy Tick, derived a double benefit from his zealous
supporter's actions since the murders not only decreased the
number of Labour votes but also provided him with a strong "law
and order" campaign issue. Although Sir Leroy did not instruct
Byron to commit murder, he set the shocking events in motion by
ordering his unbalanced aide to "do what it takes" to eliminate
the Labour lead in the polls. Byron did as he was told.
KILLER: SEAN BYRON
MASTERMIND: SIR LEROY TICK
MOTIVE: WIN ELECTION
27. >MORIARTY'S CHALLENGE<
The arch-villain, Professor James Moriarty, chose Holmes'
birthday as an appropriate occasion to engage the master sleuth
in a battle of wits. He planted an explosive in the candle at
the table reserved for Holmes at the London Bistro. Although
waiter Bill Beaconfield bore no ill will toward Holmes and never
had dealings with Moriarty, he was Moriarty's unwitting agent in
crime by lighting the candle intended to kill the great
detective. As the candles at the restaurant last three hours,
and the explosive was contained midway in the candle on Holmes'
table, the murder would have occurred at 9:30.
MORIARTY'S AGENT: BILL BEACONFIELD
METHOD: EXPLODING CANDLE
INTENDED TIME OF MURDER: 9:30 PM
28. >THE DOCTOR'S LAST LAMENT<
Dr. Van Nogh was a man with a guilty conscience. He served in
the British Army during the South African Campaign; but when he
was captured in battle he became a traitor and fought on the side
of the Boers. Hence his cryptic remark that he had been a "bloody
bore". His commanding officer, General Vernon Arnoux, always
suspected Van Nogh's treason but could never prove it. Finally,
he decided to take justice into his own hands and "execute" Van
Nogh. When Arnoux confronted Van Nogh, he permitted the Doctor
to write a suicide note. The general killed Van Nogh by
injecting air into the man's arm with a hypodermic needle.
Afterwards, thinking that he needed a more credible suicide
method, General Arnoux poured cyanide into the dead man's mouth.
KILLER: ARNOUX
WEAPON: HYPODERMIC
MOTIVE: PUNISH TREASON
29. >THE MYSTERIOUS MURDER<
Irene Marlow was unaware of her husband's old business
partnership with Albert Kenilworth. Colonel Marlow had swindled
Kenilworth, driving him to commit suicide. Ten years later,
Albert's brother Arnold made good on his threat of revenge.
Marlow had never met Albert Kenilworth, which Kenilworth used to
his advantage. He followed Marlow and engaged the unsuspecting
Colonel in a game of backgammon at the pub. After the game,
Kenilworth jumped the Colonel and injected him with a large dose
of strychnine, causing near-instantaneous death. Kenilworth then
dragged Marlow's body to the dock and threw it into the river.
MURDERER: ARNOLD KENILWORTH
MOTIVE: REVENGE
CAUSE OF DEATH: THE DRUG, STRYCHNINE
WHERE: PARK
30. >THE MURDERED STOCKBROKER<
Barry Coopersfield, worried about the competition from Henry
Lancelot's company, devised a devious plan to gain extra money
for himself. He convinced Bailey that they should buy an
insurance policy in case either of them died, with the surviving
partner getting the insurance money. After the policy was taken
out, Coopersfield took his souvenir western "six-gun" revolver,
followed Bailey after work, and shot him outside the tobacconist.
Coopersfield then went to the Wild West Show at the Playhouse.
Posing as a stagehand, he snuck into the prop room and put his
revolver in a prop bin containing other revolvers from the show.
MURDERER: BARRY COOPERSFIELD
MOTIVE: INSURANCE MONEY
WHERE MURDER WEAPON IS: PLAYHOUSE PROP ROOM