Murder in Maple Creek

The scent of freshly brewed Earl Grey and lemon drizzle cake hangs in the air of Mildred’s impeccably tidy sunroom. You’ve just finished your first meeting with the Murder Mavens, discussing the locked-room mystery in *The Hollow*, when the doorbell chimes with unusual urgency. Mildred answers to find Dottie on the step, her usual theatrical flair replaced by wide-eyed intensity. “Put the kettle back on, Millie! We have a *real* one!” The news ripples through Maple Creek by supper time: Arthur Finch, the prickly owner of Finch & Son Antiquities, was found dead in his cluttered shop this morning. Everyone assumed it was a heart attack. But Chief Henderson has just cordoned off the storefront again. The official word, delivered with gruff reluctance at the post office, is “undetermined circumstances.” “Undetermined circumstances...” Mildred repeats, placing a notebook and three sharpened pencils on the coffee table. “You know that's just code for murder, they don’t want to fuss about.” Dottie leans forward, her eyes gleaming. “Arthur Finch! An antisocial recluse with a shop full of secrets. There has to be something there!” You feel a curious thrill, a hum you haven’t felt since retiring. You knew Arthur—not well, he was never interested in polite conversation—but you've been in his shop before. He was always busy doing something in the back room. “The chief will bungle it,” Mildred says, already drawing a column labeled ‘MOTIVES?' “He’ll look for a broken window and call it a day. We, however, shall apply proper deductive me-tho-do-lo-gy. Outside, a patrol car rolls slowly down the maple-lined street. The game, as they say in your old paperbacks, is afoot.