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Annie said simply. “What’s wrong?”
    Ingrid did not look at Annie and her tone was falsely cheerful. “I’m sure it’s nothing. But Emma called a little while ago.” Ingrid came to a full stop.
    Annie didn’t want to know, but ignorance is rarely bliss. “And?” she prompted, then took a reviving gulp of cappuccino.
    Ingrid’s thin shoulders lifted and fell. “It wasn’t what she said. I mean, she didn’t say hello or how are you or anything. She snapped, ‘Where’s Annie?’ I said you would be in around nine.”
    Annie stared at Ingrid, waiting for the guillotine to slice.
    There was time for a full turn of the tumbrel wheel before Ingrid concluded, “She hung up.”
    Annie considered the full import. No salutation. An imperious demand. Abrupt termination. Annie swallowed. “Did she sound…” Annie didn’t have to finish.
    Ingrid studied the carnations in a slender green vase. “Colder than the Greenland ice cap in Night Without End .”
    Annie registered in a far corner of her mind the titleof the superb Alistair MacLean suspense novel while a similar icy emptiness spread through her. “So Emma’s on the warpath.” Annie drank from her mug, still felt cold. “Ingrid, I can’t imagine what’s wrong.” Annie snatched up the top flyer from the stack next to the vase. Similar stacks sat on every table as well as the coffee bar and the cash desk. Flyers were taped to the end of every bookcase. Flyers, in fact, were scattered the length and breadth of the island.
    Annie plumped the cerise sheet on the table. “How can Emma be mad?” Annie pointed at the flyer. “This is the cleverest promotion in the history of bookselling!” And the Whodunit contest sponsored by Death on Demand was the sole creation of Annie Laurance Darling, mystery bookseller extraordinaire. “In grid, this contest is fantastic!” She looked down at the flyer. Honestly, she would probably never tire of admiring the contents of the flyer, even though she knew every word by heart. For starters, the sheet featured Emma’s name in huge letters. Annie smoothed the paper and read her masterpiece aloud:
    Â 
    WHODUNIT???
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    In whodunits, the detective captures the murderer in the last chapter. Now you have a chance to outdo fictional sleuths. Prove you are a Champion Mystery Reader and you will win:
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    A SIGNED FIRST EDITION of
WHODUNIT
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    A Marigold Rembrandt Mystery by
EMMA CLYDE
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    Here’s how to win: Identify the AUTHOR (not the villain) and give the title of these famous mysteries from the following clues:
    Book 1—A country doctor knows there is more behind the murder of his old friend than anyone else realizes.
    Book 2—A messenger dies in a mysterious plane crash, leaving behind a list of ten names.
    Book 3—Two strangers travel on a train and talk about murder.
    Book 4—A smart-mouth reporter investigates the drug scene on a California beach and meets a man who wants to die.
    Book 5—A half-English, half-Egyptian con man, who never quite succeeds at anything, drives a car to Istanbul and finds himself in the middle of a daring robbery.
    Book 6—A very conventional English lawyer defends an attractive dark-haired woman and her eccentric mother against a charge of kidnapping.
    Book 7—A middle-aged spinster takes a house in the country for the summer, a man is shot to death in the clubroom and her niece and nephew seem to know more than they admit.
    Book 8—Three children try to solve a neighborhood murder while their mystery-writer mom races to meet a deadline.
    Book 9—Can the new mistress of Manderly ever escape the shadow of her husband’s first wife?
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    NINE FAMOUS MYSTERIES
WHODUNIT???
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    Be the first to name the authors and the titles and take home your very own signed
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    WHODUNIT
by
EMMA CLYDE
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    Annie glowed. So, okay,