This is a great story. The author uses historical characters and weaves them in with other fictional characters and events. Alexander Swift was the detective in this story.
This story starts out with the conflict between talk about British seizures of the American ships in the Caribbean. Alexander Swift went to discuss things with President Washington, but Washington had other things on his mind. He wanted Swift to meet with Paul Revere and discuss his bells and the problems he has encountered. Paul Revere makes huge bells and sells them to churches and other places.
When Swift arrived in Boston, Paul had arranged for Swift to stay at Mrs. Patrick's place. He enjoyed staying there. Mrs. Patrick played the spinet. One night, she played the spinet for him.
The day that Paul Revere was about to sound the bell that was going to a church, a loud sound was heard. However, it wasn't the sound of a bell. They heard a shot. Rollo Blake was murdered. The Boston law-enforcement officers were called to investigate the crime.
Alexander Swift was surprised by the men who were asked to do the investigation. Neither man carried a weapon or wore uniforms. He also saw the men search everyone in the crowd to see if anyone had a weapon. Nobody in the crowd saw a weapon or saw anyone committing the crime.
Alexander Swift questioned a young lad about the crime, but the boy claimed he didn't see anything. However, he finally admitted that he had seen the victim before. After the investigation ended, then the body was removed.
Paul Revere began the ceremony of the ringing of the bell. When the minister heard the sound of the bell, he wanted to take the bell for his church. That solved the bell and another sale, but what about the crime? Who committed the crime? Why was it committed?
Later on, Swift went to the bar where the victim, Rollo Blake, had gone a few times while he came to the town. He questioned the bar tender and other people in the bar who knew Rollo. When Swift left the bar, he still didn't know who committed the crime or why. Now, you'll have to read the story to find out what happened.
This story is found in the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, March/April 2004 issue. Edward D. Hoch has written several stories that have appeared in the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazines and other books. He's an excellent author. I highly recommend his stories.
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