[Just Looking]

I thnk she didn't believe her because:

With the door and window shut in the bathroom, the mirror would have been covered in steam. I don't think she would have been able to see a face.

[QLP]

Sorry but I have to ask, how do you do white writing and how does the person who made the puzzle read it to know it's correct? - that's driving me more barmy than the actual games.

Edit - Oh I worked it out lol.

[morgaine300]

J - nope. :p

J-Lo - yup.

QLP - Been a while. What happened to you over on our other puzzles? (We could use another participant.)

[Synnen]

It's Encyclopedia Brown puzzles! I LOVE these!

[morgaine300]

Encyclopedia Brown?

Well, if you love 'em, I've got plenty more. Although I should find some online so I can paste them instead of typing them.

[morgaine300]

Yes, I skipped 5. But it was so easy a baboon could've solved it. Now this one, I am ashamed to say, took me way longer than it should have.

6. Sherlock Holmes Reincarnated?

"I'll miss you, Owen," Sara said as she handed her young assistant his final paycheck. "And I'm sorry you're not going on to college. But I guess finding yourself is important too. Maybe later."

"Oh, I'm not dropping out to find myself," Owen laughed. "I've already found myself. That's the reason I'm getting a full-time job-- so I can pay for classes with Gandalfa at night until I uncover all the knowledge inside me. You see, Gandalfa has the gift of telling you who you were in a past life. He can do that right away, just by watching you for half an hour or so. But after that he knows how to guide you to all the hidden talent and know-how, and, well, like everything that maybe made you a big wheel in some other time. I guess I shouldn't tell you, but I was Henry Ford. And I still really know how to invent stuff, and make money, and all. I just have to be able to get in touch with it. After I've gone to Gandalfa for a while, it'll only be a couple of years before I'm just as rich and important as I was before!"

"Oh, no, Owen," Sara protested. "Even if you could find out for sure who you were in a previous incarnation, the knowledge wouldn't be given to you to make you rich and famous. It would be given to help you grow spiritually -- everything I've ever studied about rebirth teaches that, Owen, this Gandalfa--"

"He knows his stuff, Miss Hull! He did it with you! He didn't know anything about you at all-- nothing about how you can solve mysteries and all. And he came into the library one day and sat over there and watched you. And he knew right away. He said, "That woman is the reincarnation of the great detective Sherlock Holmes.' See? How could he come up with that? That's why you're so good at figuring things out. You did it before. You were the greatest!"

Sara looked amazed. "Owen," she said. "Don't you realize you've just proved the Gandalfa is nothing but a money-hungry fake? I don't know who I may have been in an earlier life-- but I know it wasn't Sherlock Holmes!"

Could Sara really know?

[Unknown008]

Well...

Sherlock Holmes never really existed. He's only a fiction character, right?

[morgaine300]

Right you are, Unky. And it went right over my head the first time. LOL. :o

[Unknown008]

Yes, I had some doubt, then I remembered the cartoons about it, plus the recent film about it. If that was really like this... :eek:

He's good at his work yes, but... :eek:

[morgaine300]

Cartoons? They made a cartoon out of Sherlock Holmes? That just seems... sacrilege or something. :)

[Synnen]

It's a Wiki link, but it gives a good enough description of the Encyclopedia Brown books

Encyclopedia Brown - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[morgaine300]

Ah, actually my other book of these that I can't find is the Two-Minute Mysteries, I assume by that same guy. (I think they are probably a bit better, if memory serves.)

[QLP]

Seem to be permanently busy atm. Keep popping on for a quick nosey but not enough to get my teeth into anything. Enjoying following your little myseries though.

[morgaine300]

7. Betty's Cousin

"What, taking out books on American history? And on Saturday morning? I thought Central High's most famous actress would sleep till noon on weekends!"

"Betty Goldstein laughed at Sara Hull's teasing.

"They're not for me, they're for my cousin Esther. Maybe you read the story about her in the paper--she's from Israel, spending the summer here. I dropped by to see her this morning, and she was saying she wanted to know all about America, so I thought I'd take these books over to her tomorrow."

"She's not staying with your family?"

"Oh, no. She was supposed to, and then she found out that we weren't Orthodox Jews. She's very strict and religious, and she moved to a rooming house where they serve kosher meals and all that."

Betty turned to leave, almost colliding at the library door with a slim, sandy-haired young man who stopped and called her by name. In the library quiet, Sara could pick up most of what he said.

"Your cousin Esther... she said you might be here... walking on the street, mugger grabbed her purse, knocked her down... I live near there... all upset... I'll drive you over if you like... "

"Yes, of course... "

Sara's voice was sharp as she called, "Betty, come over here! You didn't fill out these request slips properly -- come back and do it right!"

Startled, with a "Be right back" to the young man, Betty ran to the far end of the long, hollow-oval library desk, where Sara was waving a blank request slip. "Miss Hull, I don't understand. I've got to go to my cousin-- she's been hurt--"

"Betty," Sara said, "nothing has happened to your cousin. That young man is lying. Now, you're an actress-- start a loud argument with me over these request slips to drown me out while I call the police."

Later, Bill Tawson patted Sara's shoulder admiringly.

"Sherlock," he said, "I say it again. I wish I had you on my detective squad. You probably saved that girl's life. That guy is wanted for questioning in three rape-murder cases-- got pretty girls like Betty to get in his car on some pretext and then-- but there's one thing I don't understand. Why were you so positive Esther Goldstein hadn't been mugged?"

What was Sara's answer?

[J_9]

Because Esther is strict Orthodox and their religious day begins at sundown on Friday and ends at Sundown on Saturday. So, Esther wouldn't be walking the streets on Saturday.

[morgaine300]

That's the same guess I made and it isn't correct. Right idea...

[Unknown008]

Well, I wouldn't have got that answer because I don't know their culture, but I am thinking about those lines:

Esther wanted to know more about America and Betty never told her that she was getting books for her to read (not that is mentioned). However, the man claimed that Esther knew where Betty was, that is in the library.

If that doesn't work, maybe it's about the culture... which I'll need to Google to find out more about it.

[Synnen]

Because Esther was an Orthodox Jew, and there are prohibitions about being able to CARRY things on the Sabbath, because it's seen as "work", and no work can be done on the Sabbath. Not sure if purses fall under that heading, but I think that pushing a stroller counts, so I'm guessing that purses do too. So if Esther had been out walking, she would not have been carrying anything.

[morgaine300]

Unky, that's a good thought, but it does say:
"Your cousin Esther ... she said you might be here..."
Not to mention that in wanting to cause Betty harm, he still had to have some legitimate way of knowing who Esther was, which obviously he found out by some means or other.

[morgaine300]

Synn, you're close.

It's about the purse, but not for that reason. (Theoretically, I don't know that there's anything wrong with carrying the purse itself, but something more to it.)

Cool, we finally have one that is stumping everyone. :p