The Body in the Bookstore

It was a quiet evening at the old bookstore on Main Street when the scream shattered the silence. The owner, Mrs. Jameson, rushed to the back room and found her assistant, Emily, standing over the lifeless body of a man.

Detective Liam Harper arrived on the scene, his keen eyes taking in every detail. The victim, identified as Robert Gallagher, had been stabbed with a letter opener. Suspects were limited to those in the store: Mrs. Jameson, Emily, and two customers who had been browsing the shelves.

As Harper interrogated the witnesses, he learned that Gallagher had a heated argument with Mrs. Jameson the previous week over a rare book. Emily mentioned that she had seen Gallagher snooping around the store after hours. The customers, a young couple, claimed to have no connection to the victim.

Harper noticed something peculiar about the crime scene. The letter opener had been wiped clean, but a smudge of red ink stained the handle. He also discovered a crumpled note in Gallagher's pocket, written in the same red ink, with a list of book titles.

The detective requested alibis from everyone. The young couple had been at a movie, and Mrs. Jameson was having dinner with her sister. But when Emily's alibi of being home alone couldn't be verified, suspicion fell on her.

However, Harper had one more trick up his sleeve. He examined the books on the list and found that the first letter of each title spelled out "JAMESON." Confronting Mrs. Jameson, he revealed that the red ink on the letter opener matched her favorite pen. She broke down, confessing that Gallagher had threatened to expose her for selling forged rare books. In a moment of panic, she had silenced him forever.

As Mrs. Jameson was led away in handcuffs, Detective Harper couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness. Sometimes, the most thrilling mysteries were hidden within the pages of a book, waiting to be discovered.