A wealthy man lives alone in a small cottage. Because he was handicapped ...

[henh...@gmail.com]

A wealthy man lives alone in a small cottage. Because he was handicapped he had everything delivered to his cottage.

The mailman was delivering a letter on Thursday when he noticed that the front door was ajar. Through the opening, he could see the man’s body lying in a pool of dried blood.

On the porch were 2 bottles of milk, Monday’s newspaper, a catalog, flyers, and unopened mail.

When Sherlock Holmes got to the cottage he told the police the killer was [..............] . How did he know?

[henh...@gmail.com]

On Monday, November 27, 2023 at 12:47:26 PM UTC-8, henh...@gmail.com wrote:
> A wealthy man lives alone in a small cottage.

Because he was handicapped, he had everything delivered to his cottage.

>
> The mailman was delivering a letter on Thursday when he noticed that the front door was ajar. Through the opening, he could see the man’s body lying in a pool of dried blood.
>
> On the porch were 2 bottles of milk, Monday’s newspaper, a catalog, flyers, and unopened mail.
>

> When Sherlock Holmes got to the cottage, he told the police the killer was [..............] . How did he know?


A catalog on the porch -------- sounds like the Sears Catalog.

[leflynn]

Well, I'm not Sherlock to begin with, and I lack a lot of information he would have had (e.g., was the paper published daily or weekly - say on Mondays only, what had the weather been like for the past week, how often was milk delivered, did he usually take one bottle or two, did he leave an empty to exchange for the new one, did he have an ice box, were catalogs and flyers delivered by the mailman or by other means, how often was the mail delivered and did this man usually get mail every day - perhaps including on Sunday?)

That said, I think the butler did it. For a wealthy individual, living alone means without family members; servants do not count. The butler killed him on Sunday night and left with the easily spent cash assets. He cancelled the paper starting on Tuesday but forgot about the milk deliveries. The cook saw the man was dead on Monday morning and knew she was out of a job, so she went back to France. The valet and maid went off together after stealing the jewelry and other expensive items. They left the door ajar. The mailman noticed the door was open on Monday but left the mail for the next three days before reporting it to give the butler, his brother-in-law, more time to get away. The milkman left a second bottle of milk on Thursday morning even though the first one from Tuesday morning was still there because he got paid by the bottle, and the man's account still had funds in it. It was definitely not the paperboy who just stopped deliveries as instructed by the notice from the butler, and the cottage was somewhat isolated so he did not notice anything unusual on his rounds. It was also not the grocery/bakery delivery boy as he made his rounds on Saturdays. I cannot rule out the gardener, the iceman, or the coal delivery man as I do not know their schedules or the current season.

L. Flynn

[Carl G]

On Monday, November 27, 2023 at 12:47:26 PM UTC-8, henh...@gmail.com wrote:

Since Holmes _knew_ who the killer was, and did not just suspect someone, _he_ must have been the killer. During the trial it was discovered that Holmes had been stealing newspapers, mail, and milk bottles off of porches. When the wealthy man caught him doing this, Holmes threw a bottle of milk at him, striking him in the head and killing him. Fortunately, this "Sherlock Holmes" was not the one in the famous fictional stories, since it would have been a "postman", "postie", or "letter carrier", and not a "mailman". Also, there would have been a "catalogue", not a "catalog".

-Carl G.

[henh...@gmail.com]

i wonder how old this problem is... There's a clip on it in Youtube.