Baroness Orczy

The Old Man in the Corner (Fingerprint Classics) Baroness Orczy Abridged edition

Reporter Polly Burton accepts the fact that many crimes will always be unsolved. She calls them mysteries. But the old man in the tea shop claims that there are no mysteries. All it takes to solve a crime is a quick mind and an unbiased view of the facts. The old man gives Polly a detailed account of several unsolved murders and robberies, each time presenting his own indisputable solution to the mystery. Fascinated by the old man's odd habits and sharp wit, Polly begins to realize that clear and logical thinking is the most powerful weapon available to a detective -- or a murderer. But as Polly spends more time with the old man, she realizes that in his past lies the most tantalizing mystery of all.