Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/08/30/in-1920-whist-expert-joseph-e.html
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In 1920, whist expert Joseph Elwell was found shot to death alone in his locked Manhattan brownstone
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Another one room, five person, two act murder mystery?
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And the vicar very nearly got away with it, too! Fortunately Inspector Grimsby noticed that there was no card lower than a 9 in Elwell’s pocket–in other words, a pinochle deck, unsuited for whist. From there it was a simple matter of deducing that the “Moravian ambassador” was, in fact, the infamous forger known as “M. DuPuis” and that his supposed passionate affair with the chambermaid was merely an ingenious cover for their re-assembly of a Derringer secreted into the room on the person of the morgue attendant who–though innocent of any association with the crime–had been summoned by the butler before Elwell’s death.
The spilled vial of oil of vitriol, the curiously vivid gardenias, and the rampaging bull elephant let loose in the room were all red herrings.
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I don’t know which is odder; a locked room mystery or a professional Whist player?
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