The Brass Bookend
Seasoned — two halves that must both be in the file before it will stand.
Frederick Ashcombe was found in the library of his house on the Tiergartenstrasse at half past eleven last night. One blow to the back of the head, from a brass bookend off his own shelf. His watch broke in the fall and stopped at forty-two minutes past ten.
Four people were under that roof and all four are still there.
His wife left for Hamburg three days ago. Her brother arrived from Hamburg the day before yesterday, to see her, and was told he had missed her.
Neither of them appears to have thought that odd. You may.
Who is in the house
- Alice Reed — Housekeeper, twenty years with the family
- Edward Vane — Margaret Ashcombe's brother, arrived from Hamburg the day before yesterday
- Thomas Bell — Secretary to Frederick Ashcombe, twelve years
- Rose Ashcombe — The dead man's daughter, twenty-three
Where you are
The Tiergartenstrasse, Berlin, March 1911. An English publisher's house: the library, the stairs, and the attic above them.
The dead: Frederick Ashcombe.
Where it comes from
Grounded in R v Hawley Harvey Crippen, Central Criminal Court, October 1910. Hilldrop Crescent, Camden. Read the original. The case is original; the story it learns from is not.