The Christie Caper - Carolyn Hart [138]
“Four,” Annie interrupted. It would never do to leave out Lady Gwendolyn. Then, briskly, she asked, “Are you on your way home?” To say too much would be a serious mistake.
“Yes.” The author took a deep breath, looked away, her gaze sweeping the back of the bookstore. “Oh, your water-colors. They are so well done. Who won the contest?”
“Do you know, we forgot to ask people to turn in their lists!”
Fleur Calloway pointed in order. “The Mysterious Affair at Styles, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, And Then There Were None, Mrs. McGinty’s Dead, and What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw! Among Christie’s finest.”
Annie clapped her hands. “Now you’ve won. You get free coffee and a book.”
Calloway slowly picked up Murder on the Orient Express. “I will take this one.” She held it tight to her body. “I can never thank you enough,” she said softly, her voice breaking. She gave Annie a swift hug, then turned and walked away.
CLUE SHEET
1. Beware the false face;
Can’t trust someone in this place.
2. Lucky, lovely, rich Linnet.
Luckiest girl in the world—or is she?
3. Children’s laughter, bobbing apples;
Too much talk and murder strikes.
4. Where was Agnes Woddell,
Or is this too ob-skewer?
5. Bess Sedgwick wanted to take the blame,
But Poirot wouldn’t play that game.
6. Be wary of so many accidents;
Fair of face, but a greedy soul.
7. Henrietta did her best,
And almost lost her life.
8. Jane’s ulster droops over a chair;
A rolled-up magazine pokes from a pocket.
9. Poor Wonky Pooh’s mistress never reached Scotland Yard;
Lavinia was victim No. 4, how many more?
10. Malicious Henet met her fate among disordered sheets;
Human nature was just the same, then as now.
11. “He was murdered, wasn’t he?”
But the ladylike killer talks too much.
12. Suntan in a bottle;
Who took that bath?
13. Miss Lemon makes a mistake!
Hercule Poirot does a double take.
14. Blood on a golf club, blood on a suit;
Somebody, Inspector Battle thinks, got very cute.
15. Dolly Bantry’s worried sick;
She recruits Miss Marple quick.
16. Poor Dora Bunner meant well,
But there was too much she could tell.
17. Things are hot, revolution is brewing.
Bob hides the jewels, but a mirror reflects.
18. Mr. Shaitana thumbed his nose,
And his life drew to a close.
19. Elinor Katharine Carlisle—
Innocent or guilty?
20. A wasp flew loose in the cabin,
But the fatal sting came from a thorn.
21. She had to die;
Poirot finds out why.
22. Frankie crashes the car,
But that doesn’t get her very far.
23. A mislabeled path at Victoria Falls;
Look for the answer in the wooden giraffe.
24. Just a contest, but money tempts;
A hearty man’s closet tells the tale.
25. Lady Hoggin is willing to pay;
Will Shan Tung come home today?
AGATHA CHRISTIE
TREASURE HUNT POSTERS
POSTER 1
A cupboard in the corner of a cottage dining room. It contains sports equipment and relics of the sporting life: two pairs of skis, ten or twelve hippopotamus tusks, fishing tackle, a stuffed elephant’s foot, golf clubs, a tennis racket, and a tiger skin.
POSTER 2
The small, mustachioed man on the hotel terrace holds a woman’s fawn felt hat in his hands, showing it to his companion. A look of impatience underlies one of concern on the little man’s face. One finger is stuck through a small hole in the hat’s brim.
POSTER 3
Scissors. Cut-out letters. A young woman standing at an upper window watching, watching. A wasp’s nest and a jar of cyanide.
POSTER 4
The old butler peers nearsightedly through the windows at the drive. A looking glass. Wax flowers on a malachite table.
POSTER 5
The smoldering remains of an air crash. Luggage in a hotel lobby. A much battered tennis racket.
POSTER 6
In the candlelight, the body clothed in a black cloak and a black mask looks absurdly melodramatic, but the young man is very dead.
POSTER 7
The black-haired young woman with eager green eyes stares at a ship model behind the plate-glass