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Authors: Donald J. Sobol

Encyclopedia Brown Solves Them All (7 page)

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(Turn to page 96 for the solution to the Case of the Muscle Maker.)

Solution to
the Case of the Missing Clues

Encyclopedia did not find the clues he was looking for-cherry stems and cherry pits!

Had Bugs been “in the clubhouse all afternoon, eating cherries” which he had bought at the supermarket, as he claimed, the pits and stems would have been there, too!

Beaten once again by Encyclopedia, Bugs admitted he had taken the cherries from Abner’s fresh-fruit stand. He had eaten most of them on the way to the clubhouse.

Bugs also admitted that Abner’s fruit stand had never been in danger. His protection service was just an excuse to get fruit without paying for it.

Bugs paid Abner for all the fruit he had eaten during the past two weeks.

Then he retired from the protection business.

Solution to the Case of the Super-Secret Hold

Bugs tried to scare Sally with his super-secret hold.

All the children but Encyclopedia believed that Spike and Rocky were really put to sleep, and that they could have been seriously hurt if Bugs had wanted to hurt them.

Encyclopedia alone saw that Spike and Rocky weren’t really knocked out.

He whispered to Sally the reason he knew they were only faking.

Spike and Rocky had fallen over on their backs.

A person who is knocked senseless, or who loses consciousness while standing up, does not fall backward.

He falls forward.

Solution to
the Case of the Wagon Master

After capturing Fort Hope, the Indians left the American flag flying. They did not know there were rules for displaying it.

But Buck Calhoun had been a scout for the Fourth Cavalry. He should have known how to honor the flag.

Before coming down from the pass, he saw the flag flying. He thought this meant that everything was all right at the fort.

He had never learned that the flag is not flown after sunset under normal conditions, or in the rain.

That it was flying in the rain at midnight should have instantly warned him that something was wrong at the fort!

P.S. The statue of Buck Calhoun was taken away.

Solution to
the Case of Sir Biscuit-Shooter

Princess Marta said she hadn’t heard the thief enter her trailer.

That proved Uncle Barney was innocent, since he could not have entered her trailer without being heard. He wore his knight’s costume of pots and pans. The rattling and clanking would have given him away!

Yet the bareback rider, Kitty, claimed she saw him come out of the trailer.

So Kitty had lied. Arid Encyclopedia saw that her “soft slippers” made it possible for her to enter the trailer silently.

Outwitted by the boy detective, Kitty confessed. She had stolen the money. She had blamed the crime on Uncle Barney because he had been in prison, and so people would be ready to believe him guilty.

Solution to
the Case of the Frightened Playboy

Encyclopedia realized that Molly Haggerty knew too much about Mr. Mackey to be just a maid.

She knew he went out at night and slept during the day!

Seeing Mr. Mackey in his pajamas and slippers at eight o’clock in the morning, a maid would have brought him cereal, fruit and toast—that is,
break
fast.

But Molly Haggerty had brought a light supper!

Having trapped herself, she confessed. With other friends of the three gunmen who held up the gasoline station, she had been watching Mr. Mackey for days. She had answered his ad for a maid in order to slip sleeping powder into his food. Mr. Mackey was to be kept hidden till after the trial of the three gunmen.

Solution to
the Case of the Hair Driers

“-deaf!”

Since the hair driers drowned out every other noise, the guilty woman couldn’t have overheard what was said.

But like most deaf persons, she could read lips!

She read Mr. Jorgens’s lips when he told his wife about taking the money to the bank.

The next day Chief Brown found out that one of the three women, Mrs. O’Brien, was deaf. She confessed.

She had read Mr. Jorgens’s lips. With everyone watching the fire, she knew the alley would be empty. She had hidden behind some boxes till Mr. Jorgens walked past. Then she had hit him on the head with a piece of wood and stolen his money.

Solution to the Case of Cupid’s Arrow

Chief Brown said what Encyclopedia had asked him to say about where the diamond was. That is, “It’s only an arrow flight away.”

Mr. Holt answered, “Go outside and hunt for it!”

Had Mr. Holt been innocent, he would have answered, “Go
upstairs
and hunt for it!”

An innocent man would not have known about the bow and arrow. So he would have heard Chief Brown say, “It’s only
a narrow
flight away,” and not, “It’s only
an arrow
flight away.”

just before he spoke, Chief Brown had stared at the narrow flight of stairs, remember? An innocent man would have thought Chief Brown meant the flight of stairs when he said “flight,” not the flight of an arrow!