The Dead Ringer [Paperback]

Fredric Brown (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Bantam Books, NY; First Thus edition (1949)
• ASIN: B000WHWJEQ
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lateral Logic Puzzle, September 19, 2005

By 

George R Dekle "Bob Dekle" (Lake City, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Dead Ringer (Paperback)

In a lateral logic puzzle, the author gives you a set of seemingly incongruous facts forming a "fair play" mystery. If you can fit the facts together correctly, you can solve the mystery.

"Dead Ringer" is a lateral logic puzzle. All the pertinent facts are there. You just have to recognize which ones are relevant and the solution is obvious. At least it's obvious after Ed and Am Hunter explain how the facts fit together.

A naked midget is found stabbed to death at the carnival. Later a chimpanzee drowns, and finally a child dies. Through the first two deaths, Ed and Am Hunter mind their own business. The third death stirs them to action, and the mystery is quickly solved. They arrive at the solution independently, but Am gets there a little quicker than Ed.

It's not great detective fiction, but it will give the reader an insight into life in the fifties--inside and outside a carnival. Ed and Am form a congenial team. Not quite on a par with Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe, but likeable nonetheless.