Whodunit: Strangulation Station

The following is a Whodunit by Hy ConradThese mysteries are from The Little Giant® Book of Whodunits by Hy Conrad and Matt LaFleur. Can you solve the mystery before you read the solution?


Colonel Rollo's tour of the provinces was a necessary evil and the military dictator took every precaution to ensure his own safety. There had already been two assassination attempts this year, and he didn't want to try for three.

When the colonel's train pulled into the Gorganzuela station, the town officials were waiting to greet him. But the door to his windowless, bullet-proof carriage remained shut. Nervously, the mayor knocked. He heard some stumbling sounds from inside and finally the train door slid open.

Captain Corkran stumbled out. The dictator's second in command was usually a resplendent sight in his broad hat, bandana, and American cowboy boots. Now he looked weak and silly. 'Assassination," he coughed.

The mayor looked in and saw the lifeless body of Colonel Rollo dressed in his robe and slippers. A purple ring around his lifeless neck testified to murder by strangulation, probably with a long, strong, thin cord.
The dictator's bodyguard lay unconscious on the floor. He was revived and told his story. "We were all in different parts of the car. I was at my post by the door. Captain Corkran was at his desk, Colonel Rollo was napping, and Madam Rollo was in the bathroom putting on makeup." The bodyguard kicked the wall in frustration and his combat boots made a dent. "I don't know how it happened. All of a sudden, the car was filled with smoke. In mere seconds, we were all unconscious."

The train's engineer had seen nothing unusual and the three surviving passengers all told the same story. Each had been alone when the smoke bomb exploded.

A thorough search produced only one clue: a gas mask. There was no murder weapon and no clue to how the assassin got in and out. "A phantom," moaned the elegantly dressed widow with a shudder. "Like retribution from heaven."

"No," said the clever mayor. "It was a very real assassin, someone who must have brought the murder weapon on board. In fact, I think I see it now."

Who killed the dictator and what was the weapon?

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!

Love games and puzzles? Visit NeatoPuzzles for more!

Comments (3)

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This has got to be the WORST, most LAMEST "whodunit" I've ever read. Maybe Madam Rollo strangled him with her hair ties or blouse strings or belt or one of a THOUSAND other possibilities. Nothing in this story rules out ANY of the players. ANY of them could have done it.

This "whodunit" is a pathetic joke. Hy Conrad, are you even trying anymore ? I could come up with something better than this in 10 minutes.
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A geologist’s hammer for simultaneously examining eleven different specimens of rock, (or to simultaneously examining eleven different locations of the same rock)

Never grow up ladie’s fit 2xl suggested colour
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Its an early paper shredder. Documents to be shredded were pinned with clothespins to outdoor laundry lines. Then, someone would run down the rows, berserker style, swinging the instrument and shredding docs.

grand central village ladies large
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It's an 18th century toothpick quality control device. Built by Jebediah Yonkermayer who had a bad case of OCD. This tool ensured that all acceptable toothpicks were of the exact same length. Everytime!
Respect the chemistry Men's Large
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That is a guitar pick for 'Inner Core' heavy metal. The heaviest of heavy metal, played by men in six inch rubber suits on Nickel Iron guitars charged with 10,000 volts. The most famous of these extreme metal bands; 'The Daisys' usually suffers one fatality each performance.

T Shirt: Jinkies fellows, look at that! Blue XL
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A fossilized Wile E Coyote sign. On the other side I am sure you'll find some sort of cartoonish expletive, yelp, or free birdseed.

Diagonal in parallel world, navy xl
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Back in the day, we used to have to make those little dotted lines on the movie tickets by hand. Three to four minutes carefully punching those little perforations--then the usher would rip the ticket in half. All that work gone in a split second.
But the head ticket seller at the Odeon Vaudeville and cinema, came up with this handy device. one whack and yer done! How about that, you little monkey suited usher boy! You know where that flashlight fits too!

Troll Security Service 2XL please.
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It's the first version of the nail gun. You swing this contraption like a hammer and whenever a nail sticks into the wood, it comes un-attached from your "nail gun". The only problem was, in order to make the nails properly dislodge from this tool, they had to be loosened. Sometimes, the nails would come off on the up-swing instead, poking their wielder in unwanted locations.

I Heart Science, XL, Black
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It's a nose sweep. In the early 20th Century, chimney sweeps attempted to use their chimney-cleaning experience to develop this new grooming device. This tiny product was inserted into the nasal cavity and rotated until the passage was free of blockage. Early prototypes, like this, were made of metal, besmirching the reputation of the chimney sweeps. Later, softer, models never made it into the production phase because this first version turned off the customers.

I Heart Science, XL, Black
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It's called a Naxe. Swung like an axe, this over-sized hand tool was used as an aerating tool for lumberjacks. Around the same time that blood-letting was popular in the medical sciences, lumberjacks took the same idea of "sap-letting" to the trees. When a tree was damages, they would swing this implement into the tree, puncturing it in many places. The tool successfully released the sap, but it didn't heal the tree at all.

I Heart Science, XL, Black
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It's a Targaryen dragon claw trimmer, fashioned to match the Iron Throne. Soon to be in use again, according to rumor...

Sailor Art Nouveau, 2XL Navy
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Actually, I know what it is, because I found such a thing in my backyard and always wondered what it is. Someday at some kind of renaissance fair, there was a stonemason and he had such a thing and I asked him what it is. It's called a "Krönel" and it is to cut grooves in soft stone like sandstone.
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Neatorama's Ban Hammer.

"Noble Gasses" XL

BTW, this was reused from a previous What Is It Blog. I am surprised it took so long for someone to get the right answer.
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Did you ever play as a kid the game where you try to slap your opponents wrist with a comb to test your agility & speed? It stung when you got hit. This double sided, metal comb can inflict some serious damage & it HURTS!
Han Am, 2x, Grey
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Thor was very proud of Mjolnir, until one day he started giving Bruce Banner a bit too much lip. Suffice to say, that's what's left of Mjolnir after "HULK SMASH!!"

Call Daddy XL - Black
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Now this, this is something special! It's close to the ban hammer, but earlier, and more aggressive. This was used by young women who wanted to make sure that whoever had pissed them off knew who they were beaten with. Each of tips of the spikey parts has a letter that can be changed out to spell different names.

Doctorama 2xl
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It's an axe, for large clumps of tiny trees. In the case that couldn't use their regular axe for their tree chopping needs, they would use this which would not in fact cut them down, but simply bash them into oblivion. Also used for wood chipping.

A prosperous long life, Medium,
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