Was It Murder or Suicide?

Patricia Bradley Mystery Question 58 Comments

One of the neat things I get to do as an author is to appear on TV occasionally. And yesterday was one of those days. I was on Alive@Nine on WREG in Memphis with Johnnie Alexander, my critique partner and author of The Misty Willow Series and Where Treasures Hide.

We were promoting the Mid-South Christian Writer’s Conference. It’s a one-day event Saturday, March 17, 2018 (if you don’t count the Meet and Greet Friday night), and Brandilynn Collins is our keynote speaker, and we have great workshops where you can learn the ins and outs of getting published.

Now onto last week’s Mystery Question: Between 1940 and 1957 a man terrorized New York City with bombs. In the beginning, the bombs were crudely made, but as the years went on, they became more sophisticated. Fifteen people were injured from the 33 bombs he made and left in various places. In 1956, the police brought in a profiler. Three of the conclusions the profiler made were accurate. One was not. Can you guess which one?
  1. He would be a Slav living in Connecticut.
  2. He would have a good education.
  3. He would be well-built and wearing a double-breasted suit–buttoned.
  4. He would have heart trouble.

And the answer is…#4. So many of you got it right that I’m going to list everyone. 🙂 This week will be different! It did amaze me that the profiler said he’d be wearing a double-breasted suit and that’s exactly what he had on when he was arrested. You can read more about him here.

Now for this week’s Mystery Question: It’s 1929 and a war veteran had dropped his wife off at a local square dance. He waited in the car while she danced the night away because of a war wound that had left him deaf and he couldn’t hear the music. During the dance, the wife took her husband a cup of coffee and a tray of cookies, accidentally bumping into another woman on the way out the door.
A few minutes later, howling screams brought everyone out to the parking lot where the husband writhed on the ground. Between convulsions, he gasped the coffee was bitter. Before help could arrive the husband was dead. Speculation among some was the man committed suicide, but the medical examiner ruled natural causes. Eventually, the wife was arrested. Four of the following five statements are true. One is false. Which one is it?
  1. Another autopsy was performed and traces of strychnine were found in the dead man’s stomach.
  2. Just before the trial, a bottle of strychnine was found beneath a board at the schoolhouse where the dance was held. It had been bought by a Joe Williams who was later identified as the dead man. His plan to commit suicide and frame his wife for his murder almost worked.
  3. The pretrial hearing drew so much interest, it was held in an open-air dance pavilion to accommodate the people.
  4. The ex-wife of the dead man testified he’d often threatened suicide and even once had spoken of throwing himself into the machinery at the sawmill where he worked.
  5. When the wife learned a famous forensic scientist had been hired by the prosecution, she pled guilty, avoiding the death penalty.

Okay, Super Sleuths. Which answer is INCORRECT? Leave your answer in the comments section and I’ll enter you in a drawing for a $10 gift card.

[tweet_box design=”default” float=”none”]Was it murder or suicide? You tell me and I’ll enter you in a drawing for a $10 #giftcard![/tweet_box]

 


Discover more from Patricia Bradley

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Comments 58

    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
  1. Janet Estridge

    I’m a logical person and # 2 seems to be the answer for me. All the others are just not plausible, are they ??

    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
  2. Jerusha Agen

    Hi, Pat! Sorry to be missing all the fun here for so long! Hmm, this is a tricky one! I was going to say #4 or #5 were false, but I’m going to go with #1. Maybe just to be different. Or maybe because I know something almost no one else knows. 😉 lol

    1. Post
      Author

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.