The Pilot Who Wore a Dress by Tom Cutler

The Pilot Who Wore a Dress by Tom Cutler

Author:Tom Cutler
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2015-09-09T04:00:00+00:00


The problem

What has happened to Nancy Elth? Why did Steeger buy two bottles of Num-numo relish? And why did he spend two weeks of back-breaking work chopping up ten larch trees with a blunt axe?

Tap here for the solution.

The Problem of Thor Bridge

by Arthur Conan Doyle

The mystery

Ruthless American businessman Neil Gibson has settled with his Brazilian wife Maria and their two children in Thor Place, a grand old manor house in England. The Gibsons’ children are being schooled by a beautiful young governess, Miss Grace Dunbar, with whom Gibson has fallen in love. His wife, who is described as ‘past her prime’, is bitterly jealous.

Late one night the body of Mrs Gibson is found on Thor Bridge, a single broad span of stone over a shallow lake, half a mile from the house on the Gibsons’ historic estate. She is clad in her dinner dress and shawl and has a bullet through her brain. No weapon is nearby but a revolver with one recently discharged chamber, and of a calibre matching the bullet, has been found hidden in the wardrobe of Miss Dunbar, the young governess. A note signed by Miss Dunbar making an appointment with Mrs Gibson at Thor Bridge has been found in the victim’s hand.

Neil Gibson has asked Sherlock Holmes to help clear the name of his children’s governess, whom he is convinced is innocent. Holmes has learned from a member of Gibson’s staff that Mr Gibson was a man of violent temper, hated for the vicious way in which he treated his wife, who was much liked by the staff. Holmes is warned to be on his guard, because Gibson, who sleeps with a revolver under his pillow, is plausible and cunning.

Neil Gibson arrives at 221B Baker Street. He is a formidable character, and when Holmes asks his visitor whether he has been romantically attached to his children’s governess he nearly loses his cool, but strongly denies anything of the sort. At this moment Holmes gives one of his famously airy replies, ‘I am a rather busy man, Mr Gibson, and I have no time or taste for aimless conversations. I wish you good morning.’

Gibson is furious at the implication that he is lying, but finally sees that he must be absolutely truthful.

When the beautiful new governess arrived in his house, Gibson developed a passionate regard for her. He admits treating his wife very harshly and suggests that her ‘crazy hatred’ of the governess might have caused her to threaten Miss Dunbar with a gun that went off in a scuffle, fatally wounding Mrs Gibson. Holmes agrees that it is the only obvious alternative to deliberate murder by Miss Dunbar.

Holmes and Watson decide to visit Gibson’s country estate, where a policeman shows them the spot on the bridge where Mrs Gibson was discovered. Holmes is told that the deadly gunshot was fired from just behind the right temple. There was no trace of a struggle, and no weapon. The victim was lying on her back with



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