Mystery Riddles, Take 2: This was taken at the Barcelona, Spain airport when I went to Israel. We’d left Miami around five p.m. and had flown all night. I was too wired to sleep and just happened to be sitting on the right side of the plane next to the window when the sun peeked over the horizon. It was an amazing sight. And now on to Mystery Questions ~ Riddles, Take 2. I’ve had fun finding these riddles. If you like them, let me know and I’ll find more!
But first the answer to last week’s Mystery Question ~ Riddles!
1. DEADLY CHEMICALS
A renowned chemist is found dead in his lab. There is no clear evidence except a piece of paper lying by the body. The paper is blank other than the name of five elements scrawled across it hastily:
- Nickel
- Carbon
- Oxygen
- Lanthanum
- Sulfur
The guard reported that three people visited the chemist that day – his sister, Lanaya, his colleague, Nicolas, and his wife, Teresa.
The criminal was arrested immediately. Who was it?
Answer: The list of chemicals had a clue – their abbreviations spell out the murderer’s name, Ni-C-O-La-S.
2. THE MURDER AT HIGH SCHOOL
The science teacher at Jefferson High School is murdered on the first day of the academic year. The police narrow down the suspects to four members of the school – the gardener, the coach, the math teacher, and the principal. However, they all have alibis:
- The gardener says he was trimming the bushes
- The coach says he was playing basketball
- The math teacher says he was conducting a mid-year test
- The principal says he was in a meeting
The police had no trouble in arresting the person guilty of the crime. Who do you think was the murderer?
The answer: The police arrested the math teacher because, apparently, he was taking a ‘mid-year’ test on the first day of school.
FRIEND TURNED FOE
Amy goes to her friend, Maria’s house, on a wintry evening only to find her dead. When the police learn about the incident, they question Amy how she found out. Amy says that she knocked on the door and rang the bell repeatedly. Since the light was on in one of the rooms, Amy knew Maria must be home and decided to look through the window.
The windows were frozen, so she breathed on the iced glass, and that’s when she noticed Maria’s body on the floor.
The police suspect Amy is the murderer. Are they correct? Or is it just one of those riddles with no definite answer?
The answer: Amy can’t possibly get a clear view of the room from outside. This is because it’s hard to unfreeze an iced glass by breathing on it as its opposite surface is usually icy too.
Congrats to everyone who solved the riddles!
Now onto this week’s Mystery Question ~ Riddles, Take 2:
The Stolen Bracelet
1. A woman named Cathy goes to the police claiming that someone broke into her house and stole her diamond bracelet while she was at work. The policemen investigate the crime scene and notice that the bedroom window is broken. There are muddy footprints all across the bedroom floor. However, the room is otherwise neat and organized.
The following day, Cathy is arrested for fraud. Can you figure out why?
Unsolved Mysteries of the Serial Killer
An unidentified man in the local town kidnaps people and demands them to take one of the two pills that he offers. The pills look identical, but the killer claims that only one is poisonous. When a victim chooses a pill, the killer takes the remaining one. The victims always die after swallowing the tablet with water.
How does the killer manage to get the safe pill every time?
The Old Woman Who Lived Alone
An elderly woman lived alone in her house by the suburbs. She rarely left the house and knew only a few people. One Friday morning, the mailman called out for the woman but didn’t receive a prompt answer as usual. Upon peeking in through the window, the mailman realized that the woman was murdered. The police investigated the house and found Tuesday’s newspaper by the dead body. Also, by the door outside, there were three unopened bottles of milk, one of which had gone bad.
The police arrested the killer the very next day. How did they figure out so quickly?
Okay, Mystery Sleuths, can you solve the Riddles? Leave your answer in the comments and I’ll enter you in a drawing for a book from my library! But be sure to leave your answer before looking at the comments!
Can you solve the riddle on my blog? Leave a comment and I'll enter you in a drawing for a book from my library! Mystery Questions ~ Riddles, Take 2 Share on XBEFORE YOU GO!
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Comments 34
#1: shouldn’t there maybe be glass everywhere, from the broken window?!! Also, burglars usually make a bit of a mess looking around for jewelry…!!
#2: Easy. The water is poisoned!!
#3: Hmm, this one is stumping me a little, I think… How often did milk get delivered? What was the average temperature at the time? (How fast would the milk go off?). What days did the paper get delivered, usually? See my dilemma? Maybe I’m just missing the obvious!!
Author
Love your logic, Monique! We’ll see the answers next week! Thanks for stopping by!
These are fun.:-)
1. The window was broken from the inside or else there’d be glass as well as muddy footprints on the floor.
2. The water is poisoned, and the bad guy swallowed his without water.
3. The Weds-Fri newspapers are missing because the newspaper delivery person knew she was dead because the newspaper delivery person killed her.
Author
Very good, Priscilla! Thanks for stopping by!
These are fun riddles! #1, There should have been glass all over the room if the person broke in through the window, #2 the water is poisoned not the pills, and #3 the postman killed the lady because she would have been dead for awhile if the milk and newspapers were all piled up, it he didn’t say anything until several days later, I think anyway.
Author
Great logic, Megan! We’ll see next week. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by.
#3 the mailman. 3 bottles of milk at the door. But he only realized she wasn’t answering as usual on Friday.?
Author
Sharon, I like your logic…Thanks for stopping by!
It sounds like a wonderful trip–glad you got to make it. #1 The window was broken from inside and footprints should also have led down the hall to a door to exit normally. #2 Pills are fine, water is poisoned. #3 I think the milk man did it.
Author
Delores, good to see you in Mississippi! And we’ll see next week if its’ the mailman or milk man. 🙂
1. Unless the burglar knew exactly where the bracelet was kept, the entire room would have been ransacked looking for valuables.
2. Both pills are poisonous. Never trust the claims of a killer. Either the killer doesn’t swallow his pill, or he’d taken an antidote prior thus eliminating its effect.
3. The killer was either the mailman or the milkman. Assuming there was no forced entry into her house, she was alive on Tuesday when she brought her newspaper in, and Tuesday’s milk. The milk was poisoned, and she died before Wednesday thus leaving milk bottles for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday when the mailman reported her death. This must have happened decades ago. Who gets milk delivered any more? Not since I was a kid. Yes, I’m that old.
Author
Love it, Tim! I think #3 could have more than one answer! And I, too, remember milk arriving at our doorstep every morning! So glad you stopped by.
1. There should have been broken glass from the window inside the room and the room wasn’t ransacked, how did the thief know where the bracelet was. 2. I don’t think the killer swallowed the poisoned pill. 3. The milkman did it, he just kept on delivering the milk so that it wouldn’t point to him as the murderer.
Author
I like your logic, Alicia! We’ll see next week what the website I found these on says. Personally, I think there’s more than one answer to some of them. 🙂 Thanks for dropping by.
1. No glass on the floor…broken on the inside. No mess so the person knew where the bracelet was.
2. Water was poisoned, not the pill.
3. Milkman since only Tuesday’s milk was bad. He delivered two in one day.
Author
Interesting, Gloria! We’ll see next week. Thanks for stopping by.
Gorgeous picture! #1 – there should have been a bigger mess if the robber was looking for the bracelet. #2 – the water was poisoned #3 – not sure..lol
Author
Hi Betti! We’ll see what the answer to #3 is next week! So glad you stopped by.
What a beautiful picture Patricia! I can just imagine how gorgeous that was to see when you landed in Israel!
On to the mystery questions: (let’s see if I can guess correctly this week, lol)
1. I’m guessing that there was no burglary because the room was too neat therefore nothing else was stolen or things riffled through. Indicating Cathy was the one who was the ‘bugler” since the real one would have made a mess of the room looking for other valuable things to steal.
2. I’m guessing the killer doesn’t actually swallow the pill because he poisons the water his victims drink. The killer doesn’t actually drink the water.
3. I’m stumped! But maybe it was one of the delivery people? Because the milk was there but had spoiled and there was only the Tuesday paper…so it could have been one of those delivery people? That’s a harder one 🙂
I’m loving these mystery questions, it’s fun to stretch my “detective” skills….or as Poirot would say “little gray cells”. LOL…my husband and I have been binge watching those DVD’s borrowed from our library…I love Poirot…he’s SO clever and looks at clues we would overlook or find “insignificant”. I’ve learned from him no clue is too small 🙂
Author
Trixi, I need to get the Poirot DVDs! I love Agatha Christie and both Poirot and Miss Marple. It’s so hard to find anything on TV worth watching other than Antiques Roadshow or Jeopardy. lol Thanks for stopping by. Check back next week for all the answers.
I agree Patricia, it’s exactly why we don’t watch much TV nowadays! I signed up for a annual subscription of AcornTV recently so my husband and I have enjoyed a few foriegn crime shows. One is called “Queens of Mystery” about a single female detective and her three crime writing aunts (authors), it’s what they call “wickedly offbeat” and I call it brillaint with a dash of funny! We also got into “Vera” a DCI (Detective Chief Inspector) ” a solitary, obsessed, caustic, brilliant investigator.” I love her!! She’s never been married or has kids, she’s a loner, she’s a bit grumpy, but boy is she clever! Our library also has the DVD’s. And the other recent one is called “My Life is Murder”, about a retired Australian cop Alexa Crowe. Her old boss regularly asks for her insight on cold cases. I love these shows so much….there are many more of course, but these are the ones we’ve gotten in to so far. They do have a few Miss Marple on there as well as Poirot, but most of the seasons I’ve found in my library on DVD.
Author
Trixi, once I finish this book, I plan to check out AcornTV! All of the mystery shows you mentioned sound like something I’d love! Thanks for stopping by!
1. The window was broken from the inside or else there’d be glass as well as muddy footprints on the floor.
2. The water is poisoned, and the bad guy swallowed his without water.
3. The Weds-Fri newspapers are missing because the newspaper delivery person knew she was dead because the newspaper delivery person killed her.
Author
Love your logic, Shelia! We’ll see next week if those are the correct answers. Thanks for stopping by!
The window was broken from the inside because the glass shards were on the outside. The footprints went the wrong way.
The killer had been taking small doses of the poison and built up a tolerance. ( Iocane powder, The Princess Bride)
I’m guessing it was the Mailman. If he delivered the newspaper on Tuesday, he should have investigated sooner. It takes a while for milk to spoil, so he should have realized sooner that she wasn’t answering.
Author
Love your logic and the Princess Bride reference, Paula! Thanks for stopping by.
1) The window was broken from the inside and nothing else was taken. A real burglar would have made a mess searching for other items to take. 2) The killer didn’t swallow the other pill. 3) The newspaper delivery person because there were no other newspapers outside of the door.
Author
Very good, Diana…we’ll see the answers next week. Thanks for stopping by!
LOVE the picture from Barcelona airport! #1. Cathy’s room is too neat! A burgler would have left some kind of a mess, and, where’s the broken glass? #2. the water has poison in it? #3. The mailman should have noticed before Friday that the milk (& her mail) hadn’t been taken in
Author
The whole trip was amazing, MS Barb, and the sunrise photo was a perfect start to the day. Thanks for stopping by.
Did you think I had skipped out on you? My wife and I were out of town from Saturday until yesterday afternoon. I’m playing catch-up. I like the picture and verse. I’ve always loved the Gaithers’ song, “Joy Comes in the Morning,” since the first time I heard it.
Here are my guesses on the riddles. The muddy footprints were the same size as Cathy’s shoes and there were no matching footprints beneath the broken window. The police probably only found broken glass beneath the window.
I’m guessing the killer fakes swallowing the pill, or uses sleight-of-hand to switch the pill he takes. This reminds me of a former friend who left his wife and took up with another woman. At some point, they were both feeling very low and made a suicide pact. He swallowed all the pills they had chosen at the same time. She only took part of hers and then went for help. She lived: he didn’t.
I think the mailman killed the elderly woman on Tuesday and didn’t report it until Friday. If he always called out to her and waited for her response, she would not have responded on Wednesday and Thursday.
Author
Oh, my goodness, Edward! That’s terrible about the suicide pact. And I’m glad you and your wife got away for a few days! I love that song, too!
Love the scripture, Pat!
THE STOLEN BRACELET – Room wasn’t tossed as a burglar would do.
UNSOLVED MYSTERIES OF THE SERIAL KILLER – Water is poison.
THE OLD WOMAN WHO LIVED ALONE – Paper delivery man
Author
Hi Caryl! Very succinct! We’ll see next week if you got them right. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!