Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Magpie Tales #2


A Whiff of Brimstone

At first glance, the man stretched out on the rose patterned carpet of room 411 in the Hotel Forum, a fading landmark in the crumbling post Communist city of Bratislava could have been drunk or passed out. When Marek Holzt of the Kriminal Politzei turned him over, unnaturally pinkish skin tones, almost exactly matching the carpet and the contorted rictus of pain on its face told him, this was a corpse, a very dead corpse.

His first task was to figure how the man had died. Carefully scanning the room’s surfaces, his attention was caught by an open box of matches bearing the hotel’s logo; nothing surprising there. Most Eastern European men still smoked like fools. One match, an odalisque stretched across the top of the box, sported a most unusual burn pattern. His cop’s sixth sense jangling, he pulled on a pair of rubber gloves, (Not everything you see on American cop shows is erroneous.) and gingerly lifted the match to his nose.

A quick sniff told him everything he needed to know. “Josep,” he said to his partner, handing him the match and box. “Get these analysed. I would guess our dead man was poisoned when he went to light a cigarette. Now all we have to do is find out who he was and why someone wanted him dead.”

20 comments:

Brian Miller said...

very nice. he is good...love a good mystery...

Vicki Lane said...

Shades of Sherlock! Well done!

Tess Kincaid said...

Ooo, Eastern Europe, poison and intrigue! Love it.

sonia said...

more please

martha said...

Thank you - all of you. I love to read crime and mystery, but have never written one. Maybe this can lead to something interesting.

Jessie said...

nicely done. i think this can lead to something...i hope you keep working on it.

smiles,

christine said...

Short, but it said so much and a starter of a longer work I think?

Chris

martha said...

Thanks Jessie & Chris,

I'd like to take it somewhere but first I have 2 big pieces that must be finished before I tackle another big project. But we'll see.

JeffScape said...

The game's afoot.

Peter Goulding said...

You can't just leave us hanging indefinitely!!
I guess he was a nuclear expert from Brno trying to join his lover in a new ice-cream venture in Ljubljana and had been selling blueprints to pay for a whipping machine.

martha said...

Peter, Peter, Peter..... They don't have nuclear experts in Slovakia and the Ice Cream Mafia is in Italy.

I will continue this - I promise, as soon as I come up with a plot.

The Muse said...

http://adivashammer.com/archives/1124/comment-page-1#comment-8521

a paperback`blog of mystery and intrigue...spy games have nothing on this measure of story spinning.

Anonymous said...

Well you must be a professional. Good start for an exciting exploration into the world of intrigue.
QMM

Jennifer Morrison said...

Love this! A good mystery always teaches us something clever new way to commit the ultimate crime! Love the setting and the mood. Well done!

Jennifer Morrison said...

Love this! A good mystery always teaches us something clever new way to commit the ultimate crime! Love the setting and the mood. Well done!

spacedlaw said...

Intriguing start for a tale! and I see that your picture also has a bed for three persons...

martha said...

Thank you all for your compliments and support. I AM working on a plot - I promise.

N. - for 3 persons or 2 very large active ones.......

Catalyst said...

Great intrigue, Martha.

chiccoreal said...

Definitely enjoyed your fine talent in the dective genre. Why is the bed so lumpy? And are three pillows a Bratislavian thing?

The Muse said...

http://adivashammer.com/archives/26

hope you are well :)