Saturday, December 30, 2017

Follow the Clues: Present Your Evidence Trail



Greetings, Vintage Mystery Challengers! Well, we're in the final days (hours) of 2017 and challenges are coming to a close. It's time to set the stage for wrap-up posts, prize drawings, and winners. The Follow the Clues Mystery Challenge requires you to present your evidence trail to the court. Below (in bold), you will find the qualifications for prizes from the original challenge post:

Prizes!
~All challengers who complete their level with readily explained clues will be eligible for an end-of-year prize drawing.
~Bonus prize for the challenger who provides the longest chain of evidence (most books read in a single trail of clues). In case of a tie, I will draw a winner from those who have completed the same amount.


Bloggers: please put together a wrap-up post that details your Clue Trail and reminds us of your initial commitment and link it up below.
Non-Bloggers may give their Clue Trail in a comment below.

The link will be open through January 9, 2018 and the drawing will take place as soon as possible thereafter.

Here is my Clue Trail as an example. I originally signed up for the Misdemeanor Level:

1. Death at Swaythling Court by J. J. Connington (1/4/17) [revolver on cover--which leads me to...]
2. Death of a Racehorse by John Creasey (1/7/17) [do those bullets on the cover match the gun in question? And my next clue...]
3. The 24th Horse by Hugh Pentecost (1/13/17) [Now horses seem to be theme. This takes place at a horse show in New York City. And this book leads me to...]
4. Death Takes a Bow by Frances & Richard Lockridge (2/5/17) [With more mysterious goings-on in New York City...with Mr. & Mrs. North.]
5. Deception Island by M. K. Lorens (2/13/17) [In the Lockridge book, the victim is a writer. Here, the amateur sleuth is a writer. Connection = writers]
6. Episode of the Wandering Knife by Mary Roberts Rinehart (2/17/17) [A man on the cover of Deception Island is holding a knife. A woman on the Rinehart book is holding a knife. Connection = knife]
7. The Body Missed the Boat by Jack Iams (3/6/17) [Rinehart book was a Dell mapback. That map led me to this book which is also a Dell mapback.]
8. Murder at Government House by Elspeth Huxley (3/14/17) [Iams book was set in Africa. This book is also set in Africa.]

Misdemeanor!

9. Dread & Water by Douglas Clark (3/15/17) [Two important scenes in the Huxley book involve mountainsides. All of the deaths in the Clark book occur while mountain-climbing]
10. Silence Observed by Michael Innes (3/28/17) [Both Clark & Innes have upper-level policemen investigating the crimes] 

Felony!

11. Nun Plussed by Monica Quill (3/30/17) [A rare/used book man is one of the victims in the Innes book; a rare/used book man is the initial suspect in the Quill book]
12. A Grave Case of Murder by Roger Bax (4/10/17) [A supposed marriage is involved in each book]

Capital Offense! 

13. Murder Comes First by Frances & Richard Lockridge (4/11/17) [Both books have very sympathetic detectives--in the Bax book, sympathy with the suspects, and in the Lockridge book sympathy with the amateur detectives.] 
14. Stroke of Death by Josephine Bell (4/12/17)  [Murder for Money]
15. Coffin's Dark Number by Gwendoline Butler (4/16/17) [Both are heavily psychological character studies--and very squalid, depressing character studies too]


 



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I present my case for a Capital Offense at https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/16221207-my-2017-clue-trail

Thanks for a fun chase!

Nell said...

I signed up at the Misdemeanor level. I prosecuted that crime on May 9, 2017. Completed the chain of evidence for a capital offense on Aug 22, 2017. And ended the year with 18 books in a chain of evidence. Especially pleased that books #4 and #5 have eight clues in common.
Link to my post on Goodreads is
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/814542-nell-s-theme-and-series-reads?order=a&page=3#comment_160808357

The books are on my Clues bookshelf here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/2443048?shelf=clues

This was fun. Thanks Bev.