Well, think of this from the writers viewpoint: it’s much easier to make the mystery last for a full book if the witness is dead. Thus murder. If the victim was alive, they could just identify their attacker and the story is over!
The other big group of mystery stories is where something valuable (jewels, bearer bonds, etc.) is discovered to have been secretly stolen from a locked room/secure safe/sealed suitcase. Again, no witnesses, so you can write at least a short mystery, if not a whole mystery novel.
It was kind of funny once you learned that Raymond Burr was closeted at the time. Really gave another meaning to some of his comments and smiles. Like he was having a private joke.
Amazingly, she was able to raise a daughter with all of her time being taken up with hobbies, being in a relationship with her policeman husband, and being a serial killer. I salute her time management skills.
Not so. The solutions were almost always either 1) the object was never there in the first place (basically your ‘stolen before everyone thought it was’ combined with ‘never existed to begin with’ or 2) the object is still there, just hidden/disguised.
Well, since he was a private instigator who made his money from a percentage of recovered goods for insurance companies, solving murders wouldn’t have benefitted him much.
You mean like the room sized computer that was really just a fake front?
I was thinking of the valuable book that was in a museum’s display case. And then it was stolen!
Yeah, it was still in that display case.
And also the coin collection that was in a hotel room’s safe. And then it was stolen!
Yes, it was still in that hotel room’s safe.
Also, there was the stage magician who disappeared for real; oh, sure, there were guards at the exits, but — maybe he slipped under the stage, via trap door? Or maybe he ducked backstage, behind the curtain? Or — wait, he’s still there, on the stage, isn’t he?
