Page 105 - Just Deserts

Stiff Competition

The camera zoomed in as she thumbed through the pages of the
flimsy volume and stopped at its back cover.
“The appeal of a murder mystery for most people is the suspense
generated by the quest of the detective-hero for the unknown
murderer-villain, followed by the satisfaction delivered at the end by
the revelation of the killer’s identity. ‘Stiff Competition’ is no
exception to that formula for success. Readers of the novel follow
the exploits of Orpimenter’s detective, a down-on-his-luck private
eye named Brick Laird, as he investigates the murders of a series of
professional women who once were college roommates. One by one
they are killed by some unknown assailant using a lethal poison
introduced through the pores of the skin. Brick Laird soon discovers
the pattern of victimization, and travels far and wide to warn the
surviving members of the group. But one of them may herself be the
killer, and Brick therefore is constantly at risk. He also is engaged in
torrid romances along the way, a requirement of the genre these days.
And he seeks a motive among the long-buried secrets these women
once shared.”
She turned the last page into the camera’s erratically focusing eye.
“Here, in the final paragraph on the last page of the last chapter,
entitled ‘Dead Giveaway,’ is where the mystery is solved by Brick
Laird, and the name of the murderer is at last revealed—under this
layer of shiny metallic scratch-off material. And just below the
solution to the mystery is a space for three little words: ‘You win
$1,000!’ When the book went on sale nationwide Andrew
Cockleberry announced that one hundred of these books contained
those winning words—yet another reason to buy the book. Those
who cannot stand the suspense of either not knowing the murderer’s
identity or not knowing if they have won a thousand dollars can
immediately scratch off the coating and get the answer to both
questions.”
“As you can see, the coating on this copy of ‘Stiff Competition’ is
intact. Neither I, nor anyone else on your WROT news team, has any
desire to scratch it off. Why?”
The scene shifted to a large shopping mall chain bookstore, where
suburban consumers milled about a ziggurat constructed of volumes
of ‘Stiff Competition.’
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