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Nothing new to add, either. Fun reading, but if there were any killer clues, they went over my head.
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Nov 7, 2014 22:39
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I'm curious to see what people think of our pair of detectives.
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Nov 7, 2014 23:01
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I think they're jerks. I know it was written in the 1950s and everything was a different time and blah blah, but seriously. They're rude. Especially to women. I hope that Cara woman from the office ends up being the one to have all of the information. And I agree that there wasn't much to discuss in those chapters.
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Nov 11, 2014 15:58
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Let's read to the end of Chapter Eleven, then.
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Nov 11, 2014 17:43
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New suspects! Let's list them! James Corrigan: Counselor-at-law. Led a lot of the discussion in Wolfe's office. Lost money over the disbarment incident, he claims. Only stuck around due to loyalty. Emmett Phelps: Counselor-at-law. Firm encyclopedia. Always right. Louis Kustin: Counselor-at-law. Go-to trial man, tackled a lot of cases. Replaced O'Malley after his disbarment. Frederick Briggs: Counselor-at-law. Very old, very resentful. Conroy O'Malley: Bitter ex-partner. Suggested the meeting with Wolfe. Had been out of town for a week, and didn't know about Baird Archer (supposedly). Disbarred on a split jurry with insufficient evidence for a felony conviction, after bribing a juror. Claims it was the juror's wife that informed the court. Charlotte Adams: Corrigan's secretary. Sue Dondero: Phelps's secretary. Eleanor Gruber: Kustin's secretary. None of them (secretaries excluded) ever wrote fiction. None of them (secretaries excluded) had any hint that Dykes wrote fiction. All of them got a bigger share thanks to the disbarment, but the partnership is in jeopardy. Good information, still don't have enough to start thinking of a culprit yet.
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Nov 13, 2014 22:28
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I feel like we might as well move on, so let's read on to the end of Chapter Sixteen.
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Nov 18, 2014 17:00
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It looks like this book isn't grabbing people the way the previous one did. Well, go ahead and read to the end of Chapter Nineteen. This is the final chapter before the solution, so go ahead and lock in your final accusations.
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Nov 25, 2014 15:57
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I read through sixteen! I just kept putting off posting because I wanted to go through it again to gather thoughts. So far I don't have any idea who did it, or really anything else. Here's hoping the last chunk opens some eyes.
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Nov 25, 2014 22:02
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I feel like we could have started reading in the middle of this book with the number of times that they reiterate all of the clues and evidence. It seems to be that Wolfe is getting extra information from Saul and it's information that the reader isn't getting. But I'm blasted if I am any better off at this point in the book than I was when the lawyers first showed up in the case. I hope someone is enough of a genius to put this one together.
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Nov 27, 2014 00:39
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I caught up but now I'm confused. Didn't the last chapter solve the mystery? I see there's still 40ish more pages so I guess not. Was the letter a fake? Was it not suicide?
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Dec 2, 2014 02:40
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If that wasn't the solution right there, then I have to admit, I'm stumped. If there's an alternate solution hidden in all that, I might need to read it a few more times to puzzle it out.
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Dec 2, 2014 22:37
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I considered ending the penultimate update one chapter earlier, but then there would have been a whole extra murder and a bunch of clues you wouldn't have had. I'll give you a hint, just to keep things going: what doesn't match up between the unsigned confession and Corrigan's actions in California?
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Dec 2, 2014 22:59
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All right, let's take a look. Corrigan in CA: -Hears that a literary agent wants to sell PNYT to Hollywood, and that the owner of the manuscript wants his advice -Calls Potter, asks if she's seen or read the script, and tells her not to sign anything until he arrives -Asks Finch why he believes the book to be connected to Dykes -Demands to see the manuscript, said it was libelous -When refused, attacks Finch -Goes to Mrs. Potter, surprised to see Finch there -Demands to speak to her alone, is refused again, leaves -Tries to sneak into Finch's hotel room, finds Goodwin there, leaves -Goes straight to the airport, books the first flight to New York -Makes a call from a phone booth Corrigan in the suicide note: -PNYT was a book about the crimes of his law firm -Found the manuscript at Dykes's desk -Confronted Dykes, who said he hadn't told anyone -Dykes gave him the manuscript and he destroyed it -Writes PS 146-3 on the corner of Dykes's letter of resignation -Dykes tried to blackmail him, so he killed him -Finds out about Rachel and Joan, killed them too -Learns about the manuscript, insisted that he go personally to CA -Tries to sneak into Finch's hotel room, finds Goodwin there, leaves -Takes first plane back to NY -Phones partners, they insist on going to Wolfe directly At first glance, it looks like it lines up pretty well. The suicide note seems to be unclear as to whether the phone call was before or after the plane trip, but I don't see how it makes a difference. Anyone else spot something? e: I was reading Not Dead, Only Resting, but I honestly don't care for it very much. If nobody else has any ideas, I'll offer to run Murder on the Orient Express for our next round. Quinn2win fucked around with this message at 22:12 on Dec 3, 2014 |
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Dec 3, 2014 22:10
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ProfessorProf posted:If nobody else has any ideas, I'll offer to run Murder on the Orient Express for our next round. I think that one has been spoilered for me in various meta-articles about the genre. There isn't a single murderer but all suspects cooperated together.
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Dec 5, 2014 01:56
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Well, I guess we're not doing that one.
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Dec 5, 2014 03:26
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Yeah; it's a good book and all, but I'm pretty sure literally every person on the planet knows the solution of Murder on the Orient Express at this point, and probably also The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. I'll do Stop Press if you like, although maybe you don't like since this one seems to have been a clunker in this context. I picked it because I thought it would be easier to solve the mystery than The League of Frightened Men, but in hindsight it wasn't. A lot of the Wolfe stories seem to tend more towards "Archie describes Wolfe's method of investigation" than a puzzle for the reader, so it's not necessarily a great fit for this thread even though Wolfe's methods of reaching the conclusion are pretty logical and fair. Let's go ahead and read to the end. For the record, the thing I was pointing at was Corrigan spending all his time in California trying to read the manuscript, when if the confession is truthful he should already know what it says.
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Dec 5, 2014 03:38
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Even if it wasn't generally spoiled, I wouldn't let us run Roger Ackroyd. What a bullshit book. I'll read ahead tomorrow. Maybe I can still find something to run next.
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Dec 5, 2014 03:44
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Stop Press sounds like a good choice to me. I've already read two books by Michael Innes and would like to read another. Murder on the Orient Express ought to be excellent, but yes, who hasn't already been spoiled for it? ...I somehow managed to not be spoiled for The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, but then, in the interval between the time when I bought it and the time I planned to start reading, someone randomly threw a spoiler into a conversation. 
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Dec 5, 2014 03:51
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Rand ran the last two rounds, so I'd like to give him a chance to join in if possible.
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Dec 5, 2014 03:54
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Well, I guess we lose. I feel like a lot of new clues got uncovered during the conclusion, but I'm not sure if it was still possible to pin it on a specific person. I've got a good lead on a new book to run, just give me some time to blaze through it.
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Dec 5, 2014 22:04
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ALL RIGHT, if nobody has any objections, I'm calling this one for our next round: The Blind Barber, by John Dickson Carr, is available on Kindle for $9 or Kindle Unlimited for free (there's a 30-day trial!). It's also loving funny and I'll vouch for it as a 100% solvable whodunnit. Once you have the book, go ahead and read up to the end of Chapter 4!
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Dec 6, 2014 21:23
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I caught up. The book narrows it down to 1 or 2 suspects but I'm sure that will evolve soon.
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Dec 10, 2014 20:44
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I already read The Blind Barber a few years ago, but I can definitely second that it's a very good and funny read, and a fun and solvable mystery too. It's one of my very favourite Carr books. The humour in this one worked well for me, contrary to in some of Carr's other sillier books like The Case of the Constant Suicides.
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Dec 11, 2014 10:10
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I read this ages ago and remember finding it hilarious. What I don't remember is who the murderer was or even the victim, so I should be in a good position to read it again.
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Dec 12, 2014 21:01
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Yeah, it's a really funny book. Sometimes in mysteries I find myself pushing myself through some awfully boring prose to get to the culprit(LOOKING AT YOU ELLERY QUEEN) but that's really never the case with Carr. He can either carry a very strong supernatural atmosphere that outcreeps most actual horror novels or go for some really, really funny books. It's a pity the man isn't as famous as say, Christie. Controversial opinion, but I think Carr was the best Golden Age mystery writer and nobody could so much as touch him when he was at his best.
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Dec 12, 2014 22:14
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Do we actually have more than one player who hasn't already read this one?
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Dec 12, 2014 22:34
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Hm, nobody properly murdered yet except some people in America who don't count. I'm going to assume Valvick is the murderer because he's easier to remember than Adventurous Male #1 and #2.
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Dec 14, 2014 23:29
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Well, in the interest of keeping things moving, go ahead and advance to the end of Chapter 7.
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Dec 14, 2014 23:33
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I caught up but I don't even really have an idea what's going on. (No spoiler tags needed for that huh)
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Dec 17, 2014 21:57
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Number of bodies has risen from 0 to 0???.
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Dec 18, 2014 00:09
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Advance to the end of Chapter 10!
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Dec 20, 2014 14:30
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I caught up. We're now more certain a murder was committed, but the details are vague. The lady was there in the radio hut, which means she could either be an accomplice that was gotten rid of, or a witness. Was the murder a distraction or a conscious act that happened at the right, lucky time? What happened to the elephant? It's still hard to make much sense of this. I have a feeling we'll have to go back a lot as soon as it's clearer what we're actually looking for.
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Dec 30, 2014 12:35
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Confession: Over the holidays, I went ahead and read to the end. I guess the solution was fair, although it relies on our guessing that one very minor bit of secondhand information might not have actually been verified by anybody. Still, it's a clever notion. That said I kind of regretted that nobody murdered Mr. Warren, because he kind of deserved it.
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Jan 10, 2015 05:24
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So... anybody want me to run Stop Press or The Shortest Way to Hades?
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Jan 26, 2015 01:07
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Honestly, I think interest is low enough at this point that it might be best to let the thread die.
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Jan 26, 2015 19:37
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Yes. You could do me a favor by pointing out the last chapter before the solution of The Blind Barber, though.
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Jan 26, 2015 19:41
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 19:37 |
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Read to the end of Chapter 19. If you're still not sure, read the first part of chapter 20, but stop as soon as he lists out clues 9-16, before he explains them.
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Jan 26, 2015 23:04
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