The Murder Mystery Puzzles of Edgar Rice Burroughs Vol.1

THE SOLUTIONS

SOLUTION: The Lightship Murder

There were five people aboard the lightship the night of the murder: Andy MacTeevor, Bill MacTeevor, Carrie MacTeevor, Daniel MacTeevor, Esther MacTeevor

All are related to one another.

Andy's grandmother is on the ship.

Andy being 18 and Carrie 39, Esther must be Andy's grandmother.

Andy's mother is alive; he has only one blood relative ashore, a great aunt; there, Carrie and Esther being the only women on the ship and Esther being his grandmother, Carrie must be Andy's mother.

Bill said his father was on watch the night of the murder. Andy being 18 and Bill almost 40, Andy could not be Bill's father; therefore Daniel was Bill's father.

Neither Bill nor Andy has a brother; Bill had no uncle because his father, Daniel, had no brother, Andy had no relatives (except an unmarried great aunt) other than those on the lightship; therefore they cannot be cousins, and as each was an only child they cannot be brothers-in-law. But they are related; therefore they must be father and son -- Bill is Andy's father.

So Bill and Carrie, being the father and mother of Andy, are husband and wife.

Daniel being Bill's father must have been Andy's grandfather; therefore Daniel and Esther were husband and wife.

Esther said the murderer had murder in his blood but that there was no such criminal strain in her blood nor in the MacTeevors'; therefore the blood stain must have come from Carrie, and as Andy is the only one with her blood in his veins and as Carrie was in her bunk when the murder was committed Andy must be the murderer.

Readers David Cliff, Marie Fleming and Brita Holm solved the mystery correctly.

SOLUTION: The Red Necktie

This solution appeared in the June 4, 1932 issue of Rob Wagner's Script Weekly magazine

EDDIE BURROUGHS, who is by way of being a colleague of ours in the side issue of writing mystery thrillers, had a story in last week's THE SCRIPT about a fellow by the name of Cooper, anno aetatis suae LX, who was found guilty of bribing a judge by the name of Racket by giving him a red necktie for nothing. Thus the correct answer would be that the guilty man was sixty years old and his name was Cooper.

SOLUTION: The Terrace Drive Murder

This solution appeared in Rob Wagner's Script of October 15, 1932

So many people are writing and phoning in asking who was guilty in Ed Burroughs' "The Terrace Drive Murder," that we're printing the author's answer:

We meet the following principals and the folllowing pertinent facts in the following order:

Mr. Atwater, host.

Bernice, his daughter.

Mr. Elwood.

Foley, Atwater's secretary.

Charles, Atwater's chauffeur.

The Deceased.

Elwood and the victim were guests that arrived about eight P.M. the previous evening.

Charles had never seen either of these guests before.

Foley played tennis with the murderer the previous day. This eliminated Elwood, who did not arrive until after dark.

Elwood was the deceased's nephew.

Elwood's mother was an only child; therefore Elwood had no uncle nor aunt on that side.

Elwood's father had no brothers; therefore, his mother being an only child, he never had an uncle; therefore, the murdered person, whose nephew he was, must have been his aunt.

There were three men and two women involved. The sex of all but Foley has previously been established -- Mr. Atwater, his daughter, Mr. Elwood, and 'that man there,' Charles; Foley must be the other woman.

If the murderer and the victim were at one time engaged, the murderer must be a man, which leaves only Mr. Atwater and Charles suspect. But Charles never saw the deceased previous to last night; so Charles could never have been engaged to her.

Therefore, Mr. Atwater is the murderer. Q.E.D.

SOLUTION: Who Murdered Mr. Thomas?

Muldoon finds six people in the library:

Miss Thomas

Her fiancé (a guest)

These two have the same color hair (Wayne)

Mr. Perry (a guest)

Butler

Mr. Wayne (a guest) (Miss Thomas' fiancé)

Miss Mills (bobbed black hair)

Miss Terry (in room with two men when Thomas murdered)

Of the six people it has been shown that three were women and the other three men; the three women have been named and the butler stating that "the other two men" were guests.

As Perry stood across the room from Miss Thomas and her fiancé, Wayne must be the other guest and therefore Miss Thomas' fiancé.

As no two of the men had the same color hair, there must have been one blond, one red, and one black; and the same must be true of the women, as there were two of each color hair in the room.

Miss Terry was in room at time of murder; she did not know where Miss Thomas was at that time. As Miss Mills was with Miss Thomas at the time of the murder, neither of them could have been in the room; so neither could have been the murderess. We therefore place an X before their names.

There were three in the room (beside Thomas) when the murder was committed; two of them had the same color hair, so must have been of different sexes; the killer's hair was of a different color. Miss Terry was there; and as both the other women were out of the room, Miss Terry and two men must have been there. Miss Terry and one of the men must have had the same color hair; therefore the third person must have been the murderer, and was a man.

The killer had the same color hair as either Miss Thomas or Miss Mills.

The butler's hair was either red or blond, because it contrasted strikingly with Miss Mills' black hair; and he must have been one of the two men in the room, in order to know definitely who was in t he room at the exact moment of the murder.

The killer did not have the same color hair as either of the other two men, and as he had the same color hair as one of the guests who was absent from the room it must have been the same color as Miss Mills', which was black, as she was the only woman guest absent from the room; therefore the killer had black hair.

The butler could not have been the killer because his hair contrasted strikingly with Miss Mills', and we X him out.

So either Perry or Wayne must be the killer.

As Miss Mills was the only girl with black hair, Wayne's hair could not have been black, as it was the same color as Miss Thomas's, and so we X Wayne out.

Therefore it was Perry whom Muldoon arrested.