THE WINNER OF THE MYSTERY MAN GAME 2013 IS.....
Tommy
Vale of Glamorgan, The, United Kingdom
Maria Mercedes Andrade Vallejo from Ecuador - otherwise known as Maria! Congratulations!
It was very difficult to choose a winner as so many of you guessed not only the correct motive but also many details, that you will read in the official account of events to be posted below. Maria's entry was probably the most similar and most concise. Nonetheless, this game was never about the prize but about the playing, alongside other Agatha Christie fans from around the world and we hope you enjoyed the experience. A complete walk-through guide to the game from Christie expert and avid player of Mystery Man games over the years, Chris Chan, will be posted later.
It was very difficult to choose a winner as so many of you guessed not only the correct motive but also many details, that you will read in the official account of events to be posted below. Maria's entry was probably the most similar and most concise. Nonetheless, this game was never about the prize but about the playing, alongside other Agatha Christie fans from around the world and we hope you enjoyed the experience. A complete walk-through guide to the game from Christie expert and avid player of Mystery Man games over the years, Chris Chan, will be posted later.
Comments
Mystic Margot approached Reporter Nicholas Keats with a sensational story, that she had predicted 8 murders at the hands of a Mystery Man. Nicholas sensing he was dealing with a mad woman or a publicity opportunist, saw an opportunity himself. The Gazette was doing badly and needed to boost its circulation quickly or face closure. He promised to publish the story, aware of its insanity but it was that or a headline about the outrageous frequency of potholes on St Mary Mead high street.
Henry Birtwistle:
After publishing the story, Nicholas set about interviewing those involved, wary of a sour relationship with Birtwistle due to a previous story he'd ran accusing Birtwistle of extorting the town council over the cost of designing a new car park. The early morning doorstep interview was tetchy to say the least and soon developed into a scuffle when Nicholas wedged his foot into Birtwistle's door to stop him slamming it shut. Birtwistle lunged for Nicholas but missed and flew head first at an ornamental stone fountain, the blow killed him instantly. Nicholas felt strangely calm about the whole thing and took a moment to think it through. He chose not to run to the police, but to his typewriter. The Mystery Man, it appears, is real.
Patrick Noakes:
With Patrick having said some very unpleasant things about Mystic Margot, Margot was so upset that she asked Nicholas to pull the story and to forget about the whole thing as she couldn't bear the ridicule and humiliation. But Patrick was no artist as he claimed, he was actually a conman, who smooth-talked trusting, elderly people into handing over their valuable art works for very little money. Nicholas' dear old mother Mrs Keats was one of Patrick's victims and this would provide the perfect opportunity for payback, as well as keep the story going, and dispatch Margot's fiercest critic, all in one foul swoop - it all made sense, to Nicholas at least.
Mimicking his elderly mother's voice, Nicholas lured Patrick to the train station, where Mrs Keats would be arriving back from London with her great aunt's rare stamp collection, for Patrick to value. Strangled with a belt, Patrick was left in the photo booth, his crime of Fraud resembled in the murder scene.
Guto Fernandez:
Nicholas realised he was good at murder, it seemed to come naturally. With two under his belt why not a third? The story was doing so much good for The Gazette and who on earth would suspect him of the murders when Mystic Margot was so clearly in the frame. He decided he would see this through and complete the eight murders as predicted by Margot. All he would need is some reason to act as a pursuer of justice, a role that had attracted him to journalism in the first place, but never fully realised until he became the Mystery Man.
Aware of local gossip about Guto being a thief, this was enough to justify his murder, and where better to bury the body of a shoplifter, than under a shop. Guto was summoned to Mrs Keat's house to tidy the garden, but with his back turned he was struck with a rake, the body carried away in a garden waste sack.
Ted Anderson:
This one was easy. In his career as an MP, Ted Anderson had repeatedly voted to curb press freedoms and there wouldn't be a single reporter at The Gazette sad to see the back of him. Ted also had a history of violence, having been banned on occasion from the bar at Westminster and was never afraid to use physical force to end an argument. He would prove a difficult foe to dispatch, so during an interview to gauge reaction to the Mystery Man's activities, Nicholas spiked Ted's whiskey with high strength pain-killers rendering him immobile and allowing our killer the chance to smother his victim with a cushion.
Roberta Greatrex:
Nicholas suspected Roberta to be a murderer, but he nor the police could ever prove it, she had repeatedly lied in court when brought to trial, but without sufficient evidence and with some excellent theatrical testimony from Roberta, the jury were unable to reach a unanimous verdict. So where her crime could not be proven to be murder, perjury could certainly be assumed and in Nicholas' one-man court she would be sentenced to murder. Calling by her house late at night under the pretence of conducting an interview, Nicholas strangled her and left her body arranged in the position of somebody testifying in court.
Stephen Barron:
Stephen had set fire to his own hotel only last year in order to claim from the insurance, at least that was the story The Gazette would have printed had they ever been able to prove it beyond doubt. On the night The Lucky Palms burned down for the second time, Nicholas phoned Stephen in the guise of the Mystery Man, threatening to murder him the moment he stepped out of his hotel, to ensure that when the fire started in the boiler room directly below the manager's suite, Stephen would choose to stay put and await the fire brigade rather than leave and be murdered.
Margot Greer:
Margot was innocent. A Mystic who had genuinely predicted eight murders but who should never had been listened to in the first place. She had approached The Gazette as a means to stop the Mystery Man by making the whole thing public as the police had previously just laughed her away. Unfortunately for her Nicholas Keats took her story seriously.
Margot was no fool. She sensed a peculiar aura surrounding Nicholas. She suspected him and confronted him but was threatened into silence, told she would be an accomplice in the eyes of the law. When she could no longer hold it together Nicholas acted swiftly and made her his seventh victim. Distracted by her beloved cats dying from poisoned cat food, Nicholas resorted to his finest murder method, strangulation and Mystic Margot whose crime was unwilling conspiracy, departed this life.
Reporter J.S:
Jessica Smith was a better journalist than Nicholas and he had always known this, their rivalry was fierce. With The Gazette's increased profile came accelerated career opportunities and it was Jessica that would seize the moment. A sequence of mysterious spelling mistakes had dogged Nicholas' articles lately, which he had put down to his own tiredness, but they were happening again now at the exact time the editor was to select a journalist to become the face of The Gazette for international TV interviews. This sloppy work from Nicholas pushed him out of the running and the spot was taken by his rival Jessica.
But this was Nicholas' story, it was all HIS work, HE deserved recognition. And when he discovered that his reports had been sabotaged by Jessica, he could barely contain his rage. He would murder Jessica and construct a scenario which would frame the number one suspect in the case Fern Porter. Knowing Jessica had asthma, he would spike her tea with a strong painkiller gradually increasing the dose until it restricted her breathing causing an asthma attack, but this would be a sideshow to the fatal level of the drug already administered which in a few hours time would claim Jessica's life, at the hospital where Fern Porter was working.
Fern Porter:
Fern was going to be the eighth victim had Nicholas not lost his temper with his fellow reporter. The story he had presented in the first place required eight victims but now there would be nine (excluding cats) so Fern would become his get-out-of-jail card. All he would need is time to plant enough evidence to frame her. But time would not be on his side, because the Christie community had been working tirelessly for weeks solving clues to identify the real Mystery Man and now the police had all they needed to arrest him. Well done you lot!
And I am glad all is revealed now! Great story, great game, congratulations to the Agatha Christie team for the work!
Can't wait for the next year's game!
Many congratulations Maria, you did a sterling job working it all out. Enjoy your prize, you are truly a deserving winner.
=D> =D> =D>Nicholas realised he was good at murder, it seemed to come naturally. With two under his belt why not a third? The story was doing so much good for The Gazette and who on earth would suspect him of the murders when Mystic Margot was so clearly in the frame. He decided he would see this through and complete the eight murders as predicted by Margot. All he would need is some reason to act as a pursuer of justice, a role that had attracted him to journalism in the first place, but never fully realised until he became the Mystery Man.
He was thinking things through after his second murder before he agreed with himself to go on.
And we also know that Margot had real powers, to one extent or another. :P
Yes, you have to make a wish list, what fun that will be. I hope you choose A Murder is Announced as one of your books as a tribute to the game.
Loved the game totally!
Maria, will you tell us what you've chosen when you have made your final list? I would love to know.
;;)
Thank you, Agatha Christie team, what a thick plot for us to work through! Dame Christie would have been proud!
then rather choose something that you don't have yet...
;;)
I am really exited to see you chose something for the heart as well, A Daughter's Daughter .
;;)I haven't read anything signed Westmacott yet, but maybe if I'm really good Santa will leave me one under the Tree
For you, Christmas has come earlier this year, enjoy your parcel!
A message to Tommy and all the Agatha Christie team
Thank you for all your involvement in this year’s Mystery Man Game. It's been great fun solving clues (sometimes on your own) and following the hints provided by the fans of Agatha Christie. I am sure that, as with many of these activities, there has been a lot of activity behind the scenes, but we have all appreciated it. Many thanks.
Dr Sheppard
me too. and it still breaks my heart, every time I re-read it.