Whodunit: The Pointing Corpse

The following is a Whodunit by Hy Conrad featuring Sherman Oliver Holmes, a mysterious crime solver and great-great-grandson of Sherlock Holmes. Can you solve the crime?

Meet Sherman Holmes

(Image credit: Flickr user Michael Rhys)

When the detective business was slow, the great Sherlock Holmes had spent the long, empty hours playing the violin. Sherman Holmes did the same, but with less soothing results. "Maybe I should take lessons," he would think as he sawed back and forth across the strings. When things got really slow, Sherman switched on one of his police band radios.

After two boring days of drizzle and inactivity, the detective intercepted a call reporting a murder victim found in a car. Sherman happened to be driving his classic Bentley at the time and made a quick turn up High Canyon Road.

He arrived to find Gunther Wilson standing between his patrol car and a white sedan parked beside a panoramic view. The sergeant actually looked glad to see him. "I'm a little out of my depth on this one," he said. "It's a celebrity, Mervin Hightower. Shot at close range. I'm waiting for forensics and a tow truck. On top of being murdered, his car battery's dead."

The whole city knew Mervin Hightower, a newspaper columnist who specialized in scandalous exposes. Sherman walked around to the driver's side. An arm extended out the partially open window, propped up on the glass edge. The hand was made into a fist, except for the index finger, which was straight and firm with rigor mortis.

"He appears to be pointing," Sherman deduced. "How long has the fellow been dead?"

"What do I look like, a clock? The forensics boys will narrow it down. I saw the car and stopped to see if he needed help, which he doesn't. I recognized him, even with the blood."

Sherman looked in to see the columnist's familiar face contorted and frozen in agony. "I presume the man survived for a minute after the attack. What do you think he was pointing at, old bean? Something that could identify his killer?" Sherman lined up his eyes along the extended arm. "What story was he working on?"

Wilson pulled a newspaper from his back pocket. "Here. In today's column, he says he's going to expose some embezzlement from the City Charity Board."

"There are only three people on the Charity Board," Sherman said, checking the column for their names. "Marilyn Lake, Arthur Curtis, and Tony Pine." Then he examined the view: a glistening lake, a neon sign for Curtis Furniture and a majestic grove of evergreens. "Zounds!"

"Zounds is right. If Mervin was trying to point out his killer, he did a lousy job."

"Not necessarily." Sherman was thinking. "I think he did just fine."

WHO KILLED MERVIN HIGHTOWER?

HOW DID SHERMAN KNOW?

Show Answer


The whodunit above was provided by American mystery fiction author Hy Conrad.

In addition to his work in mystery and crime puzzles, Hy was also one of the original writers for the groundbreaking TV series Monk.

Currently, Hy is working on mystery novel series "Abel Adventures" as well as the Monk series of novels, starting with Mr. Monk Helps Himself (published by Penguin, order from Amazon here)

Check out Hy's official website and Facebook page - and stay tuned for more whodunits puzzlers on Neatorama from the master of whodunit mysteries himself!


Comments (4)

Newest 4
Newest 4 Comments

How do we know the headlights did not shine on the lake or the pines before the battery died? The man's arm was extended out the window but it does not say at a right angle.
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If the light switch was on, that would be a reasonable assumption, but he shouldn't have said anything if he wasn't sure. Still, the cop had a bit of an attitude: "What do I look like, a clock? The forensics boys will narrow it down."
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So how do you add more keys to it seeing as how you gotta spin a new key all around the ring? Or is this made to fit on another pre-existing ring? In witch case it's just a really big keyhole.
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I'm betting the key blank is part of only one of the two loops (for lack of a better term) that make up a typical key ring, which would let you spin additional keys all the way around. Come to think of it, being able to use the key portion as a handle would probably make it a lot easier to manipulate the ring proper.
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"Sometimes the answer is so obvious ..."

But what was the question?

This is one of those ideas that makes you think "neat!" at first (even I did), but after considering it, I can't come up with a problem this solves.

And to answer ChuckBlack's question, I don't believe the ring above spirals all the way around like most keyrings; it's just split at the top and overlaps partway.
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Since my first comment is still, for some reason, waiting for moderation, one way it's an improvement is that being able to grasp the key ring firmly by the protrusion would make it easier to slide other keys onto the ring. Another improvement it could make would be if there is one key that is used predominantly, or one that needs to be found quickly, this key would really cut down on the time spent fumbling and sorting.
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What is wrong with a keyring which collects numerous keys? Too many keys? Add another ring. This seems like a solution to a problem that never was.
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The reason why no one has thought of it before (or rather, tried to make a business from it before) is because it's just not a very good idea.

The ring in keyrings is made from steel and the key is made from brass, the join between the two will be a weakpoint that will hold up for a comparably short time compared to a regular key. Even if it was all made from brass it would become a weak point which would significantly lower the lifespan of the key.

Sure, if you like standing there with a snapped of key in your front door then go ahead and invest in this.
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Total FAIL. The key is not suppose to follow the direction of the keyring. That will only cause the other keys not want to stay flat since one is facing the wrong direction.
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The extra amount of freedom of movement that comes from having keys on rings on another ring makes it much easier to find and use the one you want. Having them more constrained would drive me up the wall.

Neat idea - but fails to solve a real problem.
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So, bear with me.

Assume that this idea gains traction, and eventually all keys used by human kind sport this feature.

So then what happens when all your keys have that built-in keyring?

What do you put the keys on then?

Each other?

Or does the universe just implode into a giant singularity extinguishing all life as we know it?

Some things shouldn't be trifled with in the Natural Order of Things.
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