In the first story, "The Theft of the Four of Spades" by Edward D. Hoch, the main characters are Nick Velvet, Ron Saturn, Cary Temple, Sarah Wentworth, and Amanda Jones. Nick Velvet is an unusual criminal. He steal things that have very little value. In this story, Ron and Cary want Nick to steal the "Four of Spades" from every card deck he can find from Sarah Wentworth and Amanda Jones. He has to attend a party that Sarah Wentworth is giving. During the party, he has to steal the cards. After he steals the cards, he has to find his own way to where Amanda Jones lives. When he enters her apartment, he sees that she is a fortune teller. He decides to have his fortune told. As he glances around the room, he sees several card decks. He becomes nervous and wonders how he was going to steal the Four of Spades from all of those decks. This was a great story. Here are some questions for you to think about: How did he steal the cards from both places? Why did he have to steal this particular card? What benefit did he receive from stealing them? Were these three men caught?
In the second story, "The Parker Shotgun" by Sue Grafton, Kinsey Millhone is the private investigator. She appears in short stories and novels by Sue Grafton. In this story, a woman named Lisa Osterling comes to see Kinsey. She shows Kinsey a picture of her dead husband. Kinsey wonders how Lisa got the picture because it belongs to the police. It was a crime lab photo. Rudd is Lisa's husband. He had been a cocaine dealer for a long time. However, he decided to go straight and start a legitimate business in landscape maintenance. A month later, somebody killed Rudd with a Parker Shotgun. Parker Shotguns were not available anymore. Only two guns were still around. Kinsey needs to locate the guns and find out who killed Rudd and why. Her first investigation starts with Avery Lamb, who is a gun shop owner. He knows a lot about guns and knows who had the Parker Shotguns. You'll have to read and find out who killed Rudd and why.
Go To Page: 1 2
