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Contents
1. Blowing Up the Mackenzie Building
2. The Worst Kind of Phone Call
11. Taking Over the Thomas Case
12. A Career Adjustment for Lonnie the “Dipper”
17. Don’t Get Caught Speeding in Polk County!
22. Nathan Greeley’s Personal Effects
26. The Case of the Skull & Anchor
29. The Last Wish of Latimer Orkin
34. When Bad Things Come in Threes
35. Incident at Garibaldi Park
36. Every Dead Body Has a Story to Tell
37. A Bad Day to Go up the Mountain
39. Everything Checked and Double-checked
To Jack Atkin,
who understands that
a little scotch,
a lot of flowers,
great ladies,
and enduring friendship
are all that really matter.
Memorandum
To: ALL MYSTERY BUFFS From: the author
Mystery buffs know there are only two kinds of people in the world: those that love mysteries and, well, that other kind. A tiny majority, the latter are, and that’s a good thing because they are missing something unique. For only in mysteries can a reader get a charge out of winning or losing.
It works like this. Nothing gives mystery buffs more satisfaction than getting ahead in a story and beating the writer to the punch. They get a special charge out of combining logic, analysis, intuition and insight so that before they turn the last page, they already have the problem solved. Yet – and this is what sets mystery lovers apart – nothing thrills them more than when the mystery defeats them, and when they turn the last page they find a surprise waiting, something they’d missed.
Once again, mystery lovers get no less than forty shots at the fun of winning or losing, in a set of wildly different stories. Every mystery in the book is set up for the reader to solve. At the end of each mystery there is a question: Who did…? or What did…? or It seems the thief made a mistake. How could…? Like that.
There’s great variety. The settings range from city to country, from soccer field to jungle, and from a booksellers’ convention to a theater stage to a Crimean battlefield. There are pickpockets, murderers, con men, and various other crooked characters. You’ll encounter veteran detectives, medical examiners, special agents, a game warden and crime-scene investigators.
There’s also variety in the level of challenge. As you turn the pages of Five-minute Mysteries 3, you’ll notice one, two or three symbols – a dagger – at the beginning of each story. The number of daggers suggests how easy or difficult the mystery is, one being easy, two being a little harder, and three, difficult. (Or, perhaps more accurately, how easy or difficult each one seems to me.) But don’t let the ratings stop you from enjoying all the mysteries! One that I rate “difficult” might be