Half a Million Dollars of Gossip, Gone Without a Trace
Alicia Bonwit, editor-in-chief of the fictional tabloid Scoop Weekly, has a problem. An unopened padded envelope on her desk contains exclusive paparazzi photographs of Queen Glendora of Albania with her secret lover, worth $500,000 to the right buyer. By the time her beauty session ends, the envelope is gone.
Three professionals spent roughly an hour in her office: Fernando, a blond hair stylist; Dodo, a tall, red-headed manicurist; and Mr. Mark, a gray-bearded dress designer. No lock was forced, no surveillance caught anyone slipping out with anything, and nobody saw a thing.
This is the setup of “The Queen Glendora Photos,” a whodunit by American mystery writer Hy Conrad, collected in The Little Giant® Book of Whodunits, published in 1998. The puzzle hands you exactly what the police have and asks whether you can spot what they spotted.
A Disguise Good Enough for a Rival Tabloid. Almost.
One week after the session, the stolen photographs surface in a competing publication, True Gossip Monthly. Its publisher explains that a man in dark glasses, a fake beard, and a wig sold them the photos for $500,000 cash.
The disguise was not spontaneous, someone planned it, brought props, and understood what the photographs were worth. But all that preparation did nothing about what they had already left behind in the lobby trash can on the way out: the empty padded envelope, its reinforced paper cut open in a short, repeating scalloped pattern.
What a Scalloped Edge Tells You
A scalloped cut, small repeating curved bites along the edge rather than a straight line, is the signature of pinking shears. These serrated, zigzag-edged scissors are standard equipment in tailoring and dressmaking, where they prevent fabric from fraying. Used on paper, they leave exactly that distinctive repeating edge.
Of the three professionals in the room, only one fits that profile. Fernando works with straight or thinning shears designed for hair. Dodo carries small curved nail scissors and cuticle tools, neither of which would produce a scalloped pattern in reinforced paper. Pinking shears are a tailor’s tool, and a tailor was present: Mr. Mark.
The Puzzle Book That Hides a Real Forensic Idea
Conrad and illustrator Matt LaFleur packed 80 mysteries into The Little Giant® Book of Whodunits, a 352-page volume from Sterling Publishing with 102 black-and-white illustrations. The format is deliberately democratic: each puzzle gives the reader all the relevant facts, then invites them to solve it before checking the answer. Conrad’s better puzzles depend on genuine domain knowledge, the kind a professional in a specific trade would simply know. The Queen Glendora puzzle rewards anyone who knows what pinking shears do to paper; for everyone else, it is a painless education.
Conrad spent much of his career finding ways to make that reasoning entertaining. He was one of the original writers on the USA Network series Monk, which premiered in 2002, and stayed for all eight seasons, serving as co-executive producer for the final two. The Mystery Writers of America nominated the show for Edgar Awards three times. His standalone fiction has been published in somewhere between 14 and 15 languages, depending on the source.
Your Habits Leave Marks Even When Your Face Doesn’t
The logic Conrad uses reflects something real. Habitual professional techniques leave consistent, identifiable traces. A carpenter’s chisel angle, a surgeon’s preferred knot, a tailor’s characteristic cut, each one records a trained reflex that doesn’t switch off even when someone is actively trying to conceal who they are. A face can be covered with a wig and glasses. A professional habit is harder to set aside, especially when you’re working quickly and reaching for what’s familiar.
Mr. Mark planned the disguise carefully. He gave no thought at all to the scissors.