{"id":1727,"date":"2017-09-22T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-22T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/thatspulp\/?p=1727"},"modified":"2017-09-29T01:36:29","modified_gmt":"2017-09-29T05:36:29","slug":"tmm-11-death-in-the-blue-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/thatspulp\/2017\/09\/22\/tmm-11-death-in-the-blue-room\/","title":{"rendered":"TMM #11: Death in the Blue Room"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>
A series of puzzlers starring a classic pulp figure<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This week, we provide you with another in the rotating series of The Shadow<\/strong> two-minute mysteries. Don’t hold me to the two-minute part… but it’s close. That’s how long it will take to read. Solving the mystery may, however, take more than two minutes. Examine the clues; test your sleuthing skills.<\/p>\n

This mini-mystery originally appeared on my Shadow in Review<\/em> website a dozen years ago. 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, at least the one that 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! Some of you are mighty clever.<\/p>\n

Finally, there are some background notes at the end of the story. They’ll explain a bit more about the movie roots of this story.<\/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>\nhttp:\/\/thepulp.net\/media\/the-weed-of-crime.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

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

Death in the Blue Room<\/h3>\n
\"The<\/a>
The Blue Room… where death struck!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The sound of a gunshot echoed through the silence of the upstairs. Doors were flung open as sleepers rushed out of their bedrooms, throwing on housecoats and bathrobes as they came.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt came from the Blue Room,\u201d one voice frantically screamed.<\/p>\n

Inside the Blue Room lay the dead body of Frank Baldrich. It sprawled upon the large poster bed, a pistol in the right hand, a single gunshot wound to the temple. Death had struck. Death in the Blue Room.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWalk this way, sir.\u201d Edwards, the butler, led Lamont Cranston into the candlelit study.<\/p>\n

Young Nan Kirkland jumped up as he entered the room. \u201cOh, Lamont, I\u2019m glad you came. I need your help.\u201d<\/p>\n

A stout man wearing spectacles introduced himself. \u201cGood evening. I\u2019m Dr. Carroll, a family friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three sat down by the fireplace. The flickering light cast Cranston\u2019s hawklike shadow oddly upon the floor. \u201cWhat seems to be the problem?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis house is supposed to be haunted,\u201d Nan began. \u201cUpstairs is a room; we call it the Blue Room. Twenty years ago my father was found dead there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow did he die?\u201d asked Cranston. \u201cDo you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

The young woman shook her head. \u201cWe were never able to find out. The police finally called it suicide and the room hasn\u2019t been opened since.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody\u2019s lived here all these years?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody. Not until my stepfather persuaded Mother to move back. We reopened the house yesterday. And then last night… another death.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lamont<\/a>
Lamont Cranston… The Shadow!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIn the Blue Room?\u201d asked Cranston.<\/p>\n

Nan nodded as Dr. Carroll explained. \u201cFrank was staying in the Blue Room. He was going to prove fears of the Blue Room were ungrounded. But in the middle of the night we were awakened by a gunshot. Inside the Blue Room, Frank lay dead; this was beside him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Carroll handed Cranston a typewritten note. Typed in bold, dark capitals was: \u201c…THE TRUTH ABOUT THE BLUE ROOM… NO ONE MUST EVER KNOW.\u201d It was signed \u201cFrank Baldrich.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs there a typewriter in the Blue Room?\u201d Cranston asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d Nan admitted, \u201cin the writing desk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs this Baldrich\u2019s signature?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think so.\u201d Nan examined it carefully.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt certainly looks like it to me,\u201d Dr. Carroll added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat about the death weapon?\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Carroll handed him a small .32 caliber pistol, explaining, \u201cIt\u2019s been checked for fingerprints. Frank\u2019s were the only ones on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCould someone have entered through the bedroom window?\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Carroll shook his head. \u201cNo, it overlooks the cliffs and the ocean down below.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cranston set down the pistol. \u201cWe\u2019ll go up and look around. But I can tell you…\u201d His eyes burned in the dim light, his usually-calm voice turned hard. \u201cThis was no suicide. It was murder!\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u25a0 \u25a0 \u25a0<\/strong><\/p>\n[learn_more caption=”Click here for the solution.”]\n

Any inked ribbon sitting unused in a typewriter for twenty years would have dried out, and could not have produced bold, dark type. The murderer must have typed the note elsewhere and brought it with him to the scene of the crime. The Shadow knows!<\/p>\n[\/learn_more]\n

\u25a0 \u25a0 \u25a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Background Notes:<\/h3>\n
\"It's<\/a>
It’s a Universal Picture!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This mini-mystery is an homage to the classic 1944 Universal film Murder in the Blue Room.<\/em> Although rarely seen today, it was one of the most enjoyable B-movies to come from Universal Studios during the peak of its \u201chorror cycle.\u201d It was a unique combination of horror, comedy and music. But strangely enough, it worked!<\/p>\n

In the movie, as in this mini-mystery, there had been a mysterious death 20 years ago in the \u201cBlue Room.\u201d A rash skeptic decided to challenge the spirits and spend the night in that fateful room. And he turned up missing the next morning! That\u2019s where this story parts ways with the original film. Here, young Nan Kirkland<\/strong>, a character in the original movie, calls upon Lamont Cranston<\/strong> for help.<\/p>\n

\"Lobby<\/a>
Lobby card for ‘Murder in the Blue Room’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Other than Cranston, all of the characters in this mini-mystery were in the original film. Nan Kirkland was the young society heroine, Doctor Carroll<\/strong> was the family physician, Frank Baldrich<\/strong> was the unfortunate victim, and Edwards<\/strong> was the old butler.<\/p>\n

Special note should be taken of the famous line in this story that has been spoken by oh-so-many film butlers, \u201cWalk this way, sir.\u201d It\u2019s been poked fun at by many film spoofs, where the butler has a strange walk, and the visitors take him literally and try to imitate the butler\u2019s gait. William Powell<\/strong> in After The Thin Man<\/em> (1936) and Gene Wilder\u2019s<\/strong> Young Frankenstein<\/em> (1974) were just several in a long line of films that tickled viewers\u2019 sense of humor with their take on that line. So although it was used in a serious vein in this current story, it was done with a sly wink of the eye.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week, we provide you with another in the rotating series of The Shadow two-minute mysteries. Don’t hold me to the two-minute part… but it’s close. That’s how long it will take to read. Solving the mystery may, however, take more than two minutes. Examine the clues; 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 #11: Death in the Blue Room #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":[23,1,62,166],"tags":[33,249,27,167,250],"hashtags":[],"class_list":["post-1727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies","category-pulp","category-the-shadow","category-two-minute-mystery","tag-lamont-cranston","tag-murder-in-the-blue-room","tag-the-shadow","tag-two-minute-mystery","tag-universal-pictures"],"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-rR","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/thatspulp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1727","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=1727"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/thatspulp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1766,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/thatspulp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1727\/revisions\/1766"}],"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=1727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/thatspulp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/thatspulp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1727"},{"taxonomy":"hashtags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/thatspulp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtags?post=1727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}