Twisted Logic

The Murder of Mr Speare

Newly licensed private investigator Daniel Hackett was given his first case this evening. Wealthy banker Mr Ezekiel Speare was murdered in his home, and all of his family are potential suspects. However, rather than calling the police to investigate this terrible crime, Mrs Speare has instead decided to have the matter solved by Hackett and presented to the agents of the law as a fait accompli. It was only when Mr Hackett arrived at the foreboding old mansion that he discovered the reason for this; every member of the household was, at the time of the murder, engaged in a dalliance with a member of the staff. If Daniel Hackett can’t hack it, the case will be turned over to the police and a scandal will ensue!

From the clues below, can you work out what motive each family member could have for killing the late Mr Speare, which member of staff each was with at the time of the murder and what, exactly, they were up to? Solve these trifles and the identity of the killer will become clear.


1.Mr Speare’s nephew, young Bertie Hereford, happily admitted that he’d been, as usual, with his valet Reeves at the time of the murder. Their affair is an open secret, and they aren’t particularly concerned about it being discovered, though they do tend to keep their intimacies to less public places than the billiard room.

2.It seems appropriate that the lover of Ernst, the chef, was something of a gourmand. Thus, as they had gained a lot of weight since the start of their relationship, Mr Speare had cruelly put them on a strict diet and threatened to fire Ernst if they didn’t get in shape! This was not Mrs Marlene Speare, who has always been rather skinny.

3.Richard ‘Dick’ Speare, Mr Speare’s youngest child, is known as something of a playboy. Thus Hackett wasn’t surprised when he cheerfully announced that, at the time of the murder, he’d been in the missionary position. This caused his companion in the act to blush and Bailey the butler to scowl.

4.Mrs Marlene Speare tearfully admitted that her son, Dick, was in fact the child of her lover, and felt terrible that she’d kept the secret from her now late husband. She felt that Ezekiel would have preferred their daughter, the homely and dull-witted Angeline, to have been illegitimate, rather than charming, athletic and handsome Dick, but sadly Angeline was all his own doing.

5.Elizabeth, Mr Speare’s secretary, had been ‘taking the evening air’ on a balcony at the time of the murder. Hackett was fascinated to hear that she had been spending her time in this manner with another woman, a particularly intelligent woman at that.

6.Yvette, the buxom parlour maid, admitted she felt sympathy for a member of the family who, despite being in terrible debt, had been refused financial assistance by Mr Speare. This sympathy had led to her spending a great deal of time with this person, including the period of time during which the murder occurred.

7.It was a man (not Bertie) and a woman (not Angeline) who killed Mr Speare and either of them could have been a member of either the family or the staff.

Here are the names of all the family members and staff involved, the alibis each gave and their possible motives.

Family members;
Bertie Hereford - nephew
Angeline Speare - daughter
Marlene Speare – wife
Dick Speare - son
Agatha Binkley - sister

Staff members;
Reeves – valet
Yvette – parlour maid
Ernst – chef
Bailey – butler
Elizabeth – secretary

‘Situations’;
‘Playing billiards’
‘Taking a bath’
‘Taking the evening air’
Missionary position
Murderers!

Motives;
Forced marriage
Enforced diet
Refusal of money for debts
Discovery of illicit affair
Discovery of illegitimate child


Hint
Try to work out who Dick was with at the time of his father's murder.