{"id":1393,"date":"2017-04-14T10:00:44","date_gmt":"2017-04-14T14:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/thatspulp\/?p=1393"},"modified":"2017-04-21T01:48:46","modified_gmt":"2017-04-21T05:48:46","slug":"tmm-4-death-in-the-easter-basket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/thatspulp\/2017\/04\/14\/tmm-4-death-in-the-easter-basket\/","title":{"rendered":"TMM #4: Death in the Easter Basket"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A
A series of puzzlers starring a classic pulp figure<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here is another in my rotating series of Shadow Two-Minute Mysteries<\/em>. Two minutes? Yeah, that’s about how much time you’ll invest in reading it. But can you solve the mystery along with The Shadow<\/strong>? That may take more than two minutes. Just look at the clews, and test your sleuthing skills.<\/p>\n

This mini-mystery originally appeared on my “Shadow in Review” website. The one presented here today was one of those. Perhaps you’ll remember it, and remember the solution, as well. And perhaps not…<\/p>\n

This mystery is based upon the original 1930s pulp character, The Shadow. Not the radio version. No clouding men’s minds, here. Just a black cloak and slouch hat.<\/p>\n

The solution, not necessarily the only solution, but the one the author had in mind, will appear (below) next Friday. That gives you time to mull over the crime.<\/p>\n

Feel free to leave your solution in the comments section below. It may be better than mine!<\/p>\n

Finally, there are some background notes at the end of the story. They’ll explain a bit more about the characters and situations in this mini-mystery, and their part in the larger universe of the pulp Shadow.<\/p>\n

You are about to enter the pulp world of the 1930s. Join The Shadow as he dons his black cloak, slouch hat, and gloves, and prepares to battle crime. It\u2019s time for action and mystery. The Shadow knows!<\/p>\n

\u25a0 \u25a0 \u25a0<\/strong><\/div>\n

Death in the Easter Basket<\/h3>\n
\"The<\/a>
The Long Island estate of Ragsdale Heath<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lamont Cranston was a house guest of Ragsdale Heath. He had been staying at Heath\u2019s Long Island estate for the past week. The two men sat on the patio, smoking cigars, and enjoying the beauty of the lush oriental gardens.<\/p>\n

They heard the front doorbell, and shortly thereafter a servant announced, \u201cCommissioner Weston and Wilton Lasse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heath and Cranston arose as the commissioner, a brusque man of military bearing, stepped through the patio doors. A thin nervous-looking man followed behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cExcuse me,\u201d began the commissioner. \u201cWe have a… er… situation…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSituation, nothing!\u201d exclaimed Lasse, excitedly. He pointed his finger at Ragsdale Heath. \u201cHe murdered his own brother! And I can prove it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ragsdale Heath stood there stunned. There was a grim look on Cranston\u2019s face.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome out to the gardens, and I\u2019ll show you where I saw him bury the murder weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u25a0 \u25a0 \u25a0<\/strong><\/div>\n

Thirty minutes later, they were back at the broad patio. Commissioner Weston held a long-bladed knife in his hands. The murder weapon had indeed been found, just where Wilton Lasse had indicated.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow did you know the knife was there?\u201d began Weston.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw him bury it, although at the time I didn\u2019t realize its significance. I remember it clearly. I was a house guest here last spring. It was the week following Easter, on a Friday night. It was just after midnight. I couldn\u2019t sleep and was looking out of my second-floor bedroom window.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The tell-tale Easter basket<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The sound of crickets filled the warm night air as Lasse paused. \u201cI saw Heath skulking across the lawn carrying an Easter basket. I remember thinking it was strange, considering how Easter had just passed. He took a knife from the basket and buried the it in the flower beds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you come forward with this information sooner?\u201d This from Cranston.<\/p>\n

\u201cI left for South America the following morning before the murder was discovered,\u201d explained Lasse. \u201cI just returned and heard about the case. I realized the importance of what I\u2019d seen, and came to see you immediately, commissioner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weston turned to Ragsdale Heath. \u201cWho else was in the house that night?\u201d<\/p>\n

Heath paused briefly. \u201cCounting the other guests, there were five other men. It could have been any one of them that Lasse saw.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, the moon was full, the skies were cloudless and I saw your face clearly.\u201d Lasse sputtered indignantly. \u201cIt was you!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s good enough for me,\u201d Weston gruffed. \u201cLet\u2019s go down to headquarters…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot so fast, commissioner,\u201d Cranston\u2019s steady voice interrupted. \u201cWilton Lasse is lying. He planted the knife himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

HOW DID THE SHADOW KNOW?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u25a0 \u25a0 \u25a0<\/strong><\/p>\n[learn_more caption=”Click here for the solution.”]\nLasse claimed to see Heath clearly in the full moon on the Friday after Easter. There is never a full moon that soon after Easter. The full moon always appears just before Easter. Since Lasse couldn\u2019t have seen Heath burying the knife as he claimed, it\u2019s most likely he knew it was there because he put it there himself. The Shadow knows!
\n[\/learn_more]\n

\u25a0 \u25a0 \u25a0<\/strong><\/div>\n

Background notes<\/h3>\n

The Shadow<\/em> pulp magazine stories rarely had special holiday stories. There were no Christmas tales, no Independence Day stories, no Thanksgiving mysteries. Mardi Gras was used in two of the stories, and some special local holidays were featured in some of the pulp novels. But, the most that the reader could usually expect was typical of this passage: \u201cThe upper concourse of the Grand Central Station was thronged with holiday travelers.\u201d That was from the 1934 story \u201cThe Green Box.\u201d And no mention of which holiday, either. Just the passing comment.<\/p>\n

\"Lamont<\/a>
Lamont Cranston<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To keep these Shadow Two-Minute Mysteries<\/em> faithful to the original pulp characters, locations, and situations, holidays are rarely mentioned. There was never a mention of Easter. So this mini-mystery marks a departure from that policy. It will be the exception, not the rule.<\/p>\n

Lamont Cranston<\/strong> appears in this story as a house guest of Ragsdale Heath<\/strong>. In the original magazine series, Cranston was a highly sought-after house guest. That was due in part to his high social standing. He was a millionaire and a member of Manhattan\u2019s most elite clubs, such as the Cobalt Club. Even the wealthiest of New York\u2019s elite found it a status symbol to have Cranston stay with them.<\/p>\n

Another reason that Cranston was always welcome in the homes of the wealthy was that fellow house guests clamored to hear of his exploits around the world. Cranston was a renowned world traveler and explorer. It was considered quite a coup to have him stay a few days and tell of his astounding experiences in the far-off exotic lands. He was an accomplished storyteller who could entrance his listeners for as long as he would deign to speak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is another in my rotating series of Shadow Two-Minute Mysteries. Two minutes? Yeah, that’s about how much time you’ll invest in reading it. But can you solve the mystery along with The Shadow? That may take more than two minutes. Just look at the clews, and test your sleuthing skills. This mini-mystery originally appeared […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_has_post_settings":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"That's Pulp! presents Two-Minute Mystery #4: Death in the Easter Basket. #pulpmags","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[1,62,166],"tags":[182,33,27,167],"hashtags":[],"class_list":["post-1393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pulp","category-the-shadow","category-two-minute-mystery","tag-commissioner-weston","tag-lamont-cranston","tag-the-shadow","tag-two-minute-mystery"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/thatspulp\/files\/2016\/08\/Clock.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6SOGR-mt","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/thatspulp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/thatspulp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/thatspulp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/thatspulp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/thatspulp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1393"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/thatspulp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1429,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/thatspulp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1393\/revisions\/1429"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/thatspulp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/thatspulp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/thatspulp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/thatspulp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1393"},{"taxonomy":"hashtags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/thatspulp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtags?post=1393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}