Archie's Antiques Mystery Puzzles: Book 1

By Robin Hillard

Archie’s Antiques Mystery Puzzles: Book 1

Archie’s Antiques is a charming fictional antique shop set in a small town somewhere in Australia. And inside Archie’s are a wonderful group of characters: Sam, the knowledgeable owner of Archie’s, his clever friend, the retired policeman, Edward Destranger, and his young niece, Sandra. Also, you will find a surfeit of mysteries and puzzles.

Archie’s not only attracts all sorts of curious questions but also interesting people. It welcomes through its doors a parade of charlatans, frauds, and pranksters, who arrive with a variety of dishonest schemes and ingenious tricks. It also attracts ordinary townsfolk and Sam’s family and friends. Who bring their troubles and problems through its door in search of answers.

Robin Hillard’s Archie’s Antiques Mystery Puzzles books each contain twenty-eight small mysteries, or puzzles, that the shop’s staff, and you, the reader, can investigate and solve.

The mysteries in these books often include intriguing snippets of general knowledge that may entice you to look deeper into things, or they may involve exposing the type of scams that can easily take in the unwary.

As Sam, Edward, Sandra; their family and friends; and Archie’s customers struggle with these mysteries, you can try to match your brains against theirs in finding a way around every problem and a solution to every mystery.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cyberworld Publishing
• Release date: Dec 10, 2013
• ISBN: 9781922187727

Robin Hillard

Robin Hillard grew up in the Western Australian goldfields and has spent many years living in provincial cities and country towns of varying sizes during a career spent teaching in Australia, England, and Canada. She has now settled, with her husband, in Toowoomba, also known as the “Garden City” of Queensland. It is also well served with antique shops—providing the inspiration for Archie’s Antiques—while Robin’s own fertile mind and interest in the strange and curious have created “Archie’s Antiques Mystery Puzzles.” Toowoomba also provides the basis for the Australian town of Ridgeway, which features in her murder mystery/cozy novel “Ridgeway Murder,” due for release in early 2014. Robin likes to receive feedback from readers and appreciates reviews of her books being posted at Goodreads and other sites.

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http://www.cyberworldpublishing.com/

This book is copyright © 2013

Robin Hillard asserts her right to be known as the author of this work.

First published by Cyberworld Publishing in 2013

Published by Cyberworld Publishing at Smashwords

Cover design by S Bush © 2013

Cover images: (all manipulated): doorway copyright: AnnMei | view portfolio, antique shop interior copyright: alex_zhivitsky | view portfolio

E-book ISBN: 978-1-922187-72-7

Print (combined books 1 & 2) ISBN: 978-1-922187-75-8

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review or article, without written permission from the author or publisher.

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

All characters in this book are the product of the author’s imagination and no resemblance to real people, or implication of events occurring in actual places, is intended.

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Archie’s Antiques Mystery Puzzles

Book 1

Robin Hillard

CONTENTS

Introduction

1. FORGED FIFTY

2. TWO LADIES FOR ONE

3. A GAME OF SCRABBLE

4. TALKING TO CHARLES

5. THE MYSTERY OF A GRANDFATHER’S CODE

6. EMILY’S RING

7. CANNABIS COLLECTABLE!

8. SNAKEBITE

9. HAPPY NEW YEAR

10. THE WONDERFUL OINTMENT

11. THE YOUNG SHOPLIFTER

12. THE NAMESAKE RING

13. THE CENSUS COLLECTOR

14. THE CLAIRVOYANT’S CANDLE

15. THE GRANDFATHER’S GAME

16. THE FAMILY DIAMOND

17. A LETTER FROM ELVIS

18. INFORMATION RECEIVED

19. THE ALCHEMIST

20. THE SEAFARER

21. THE GREAT BLOWHARD

22. A FAIRGROUND TRICK

23. THE HIDDEN STASH

24. AN UNPLEASANT CUSTOMER

25. THE STOLEN RUBY

26. THE LAUGHING JACKASS

27. THE WONDERFUL WATER

28. A MEDIEVAL RIDDLE

About the Author

Introduction

I hope you will enjoy the stories I have woven around the puzzles and mysteries in this collection. You will meet Sam, the owner of Archie’s Antiques, his niece, Sandra, and their clever friend, Edward Destranger in these stories.

When troubled customers come to Archie’s Antiques, someone in the shop is always able to help them. Usually it’s Sam’s friend, Edward Destranger. He also foils the conmen and shysters who come into the shop with their crooked schemes. And when that mischievous oldster, Grandfather Gale, amuses himself by pitting his wits against the younger generation, Edward is a match for the old man.

Edward Destranger and his companions provided the solution in a series of monthly puzzles I originally wrote for the now-defunct Australian ezine Bonzer! A selection of these have been revised and are published here in Archie’s Antiques Mystery Puzzles.

Producing these monthly problems gave me a wonderful excuse to wander around the Internet looking for scams, tricks, and jokes. I also collected a number of fascinating facts on a variety of subjects to provide a context for the puzzle. After you have answered the question at the end of each puzzle, perhaps you will be interested to learn more about the background to some of these puzzles, and in places I have provided links to websites you might like to visit.

I hope you have as much fun reading these puzzle/stories as I had writing them.

Robin Hillard

Toowoomba, 2013

1. FORGED FIFTY

Sam was the owner of Archie’s Antiques. If there had ever been an Archie, he was long gone and Sam ran the shop with the occasional help of his young niece, Sandra.

Sandra was proud to be left in charge of the shop while her uncle went to an auction with his friend, Edward Destranger. They expected to be back by mid afternoon but it was nearly closing time before they returned. They had been held up by an accident on the narrow back road.

Driver skidded on the gravel, Sam explained. Must have swung round and crashed into a tree.

It was Freddy, the forger, Destranger said. He was only a few days out of jail. Police were all over the car. Looking for a bundle of homemade cash. Destranger’s own policing days were behind him, but he still had friends in the force. Not that they found anything. Dan says that somebody got to the vehicle first; even tore up the seats while poor old Freddy was out like a light.

Softhearted Sandra was horrified. Her uncle assured her the next driver had been more responsible and called an ambulance, so the forger was now safely tucked into a hospital bed. He was not badly hurt and Destranger thought he should be grateful to the thief. Fred wouldn’t want the cops to find his work.

There’ll be a few dud notes around the town, Sam said. Somebody recognised the car, guessed Freddy was moving his stuff, and took the opportunity to help themselves. Anyway, Sandra, how did you get on?

I only had three customers. And would you believe it, they all paid cash.

Cash sales? Sam took a bundle of notes out of the till and held them up to the light. He passed one of the fifties to Destranger, who shook his head.

Sandra thought it looked all right.

It’s a very good copy, Sam said. But I knew what to look for—see. He pointed to a small flaw.

Sandra reviewed the sales. "Mrs. Fortescue-Smythe gave me two hundreds and a fifty for the mirror. She wants you to deliver it tonight. That new man, Mr. Jolly, who buys so much, he gave me fifty dollars for a ring and took thirty dollars change. Phillip