Are You An Amateur Sleuth? Contest & Giveaway by Connie Berry

 If you had all the clues, could you solve a crime? When my boys were growing up, they were sure I had supernatural powers. My nickname was “Sherlock Holmes.”

Finding out what my teenage sons were up to wasn’t difficult. My younger son left a trail of clues behind him wherever he went. My older son was more careful, but I had the benefit of my own Baker Street Irregulars—like the time a friend saw his bright yellow VW bug speeding down the highway at 90 mph, or the time my next-door neighbor called me in the middle of the night to tell me someone was stealing his car. She was up at 3 a.m. feeding her newborn when she noticed someone stealthily pushing said VW bug down the street. It was Dave himself, of course, who figured if he didn’t start the engine, we’d never know he’d left the house.

Both my sons have become fine, upstanding citizens. But the point is, do you have what it takes to be an amateur detective?

In today’s blog, I’m laying out a case and giving you the clues. The person who guesses the solution, OR comes the closest, OR solves the crime in a really entertaining way (judged by members of my local SinC chapter), will win a signed ARC of The Shadow of Memory, the latest Kate Hamilton mystery, which will be released on May 10. Entries may be posted here until May 10, at which time a winner will be chosen.

So here’s the case: A cruise ship that sailed along the coast of South America pulls into port in south Florida. When the steward tries to alert the male passenger in stateroom 210 that it’s time to disembark, he finds the man lying across the bed with a knife in his heart. Who killed him and why? Here are the clues, which include two red herrings (true but irrelevant).

1. The victim, in his thirties, was wearing shorts, a tropical-patterned shirt, and flip-flops. There appeared to be no struggle.

2. Other passengers, including the couple in stateroom 208 next door, say that the man spoke with a Spanish accent, and the shipping company produced a passport in the name of Juan Cabrera, whose native country is listed as Peru.

3. None of señor Cabrera’s fellow passengers saw him at the lavish onboard buffets, although the couple next door admit they might have overlooked him as they were struggling with seasickness for much of the trip and ate in their cabin.

4. Also, none of his fellow passengers saw señor Cabrera on any of the shore excursions. To leave the ship, Cabrera would have had to produce a cruise ID card. There is no record of it, although one of the crew members swears he saw the dead man leave the ship several times.

5. A search of the man’s luggage reveals that all his clothes had South American labels.

6. The search also produced a second, hidden passport, issued by the UK, with a photo of the dead man and the name Martyn Whyte.

7. Authorities also found an unregistered cell phone with a number of photographs of the historic center of Lima, Peru, as well as Machu Piccho. One of the photos was of the dead man himself, which means someone else took it.

8. The steward who found the body testified that he saw señor Cabrera (or Martyn Whyte) the previous night, when the man rang his bell and asked for hot chocolate. That was the last time anyone admits to seeing the man alive.

9. Authorities in the UK confirm that the passport issued in London is genuine. Martyn Whyte is wanted for bank fraud and failure to pay his taxes. He was last seen in the company of a woman whose identity remains unknown.

10. Further investigation reveals that Mr. Whyte was an investment banker in the City. He was recently fired from his job after irregularities in his accounts were discovered and he admitted to racking up enormous gambling debts.

There are the clues! Who killed Juan Cabrera and why?

Good luck!