2-3-4 Challenge Book Discussions #1 discussion

When did you start to fit most or all of the puzzle pieces together? What was the breakthrough clue (or clues)? What did you miss/came as a shock when it was revealed?

I think I started to get suspicious when Harvey, the groom, convincingly denied being Alicia's lover. I didn't think that the author would trot out some male character at the end that we'd not met before. That left only one man who had any unrestricted and unquestioned access to the girl.

Oooh....great deduction, Veronica!

It started to form for me when Mary Higgins said that Ham Fisher let two people in and then left before Alicia was murdered. When he was obviously no longer working for Mattingly, I knew the family was off kilter, especially when Cornelius killed the investigation. I was convinced that Cornelius had killed her, which was bizarre, but I also figured out that he was the father of Alicia's unborn child. I'd also figured out that Alicia may have been Mina's child but didn't think about Cornelius being Alicia's father until Francisca said she hadn't had relations with him since Mina was born. EVERYTHING came together then, except that Mina was dressing like a man routinely and had killed everyone.

When everyone kept denying that Alicia had a lover, I started looking at the possibilities in front of us. The only ones I thought were a possibility were Mr. Mattingly or her father. I wasn't sure which one until I remembered early in the book when Sarah saw Alicia and thought she looked just like a young Mina, Sarah recalled that Mina was embarrassed that her mother was having a baby and went to Europe for a while. I figured then that Mina had been pregnant with Alicia. That made me decide that Cornelius had been molesting his daughters and got them both pregnant. I was sure of it when Francisca mentioned that she was sixteen when she married Cornelius. He likes them young.

I wasn't sure how Mina entered into Alicia's murder, but i figured that she didn't like her father giving Alicia all of the attention. (Mina probably got too old for him.) When Cornelius kept insisting that he was with Sarah's father the night Alicia was murdered, I believed him. I didn't know who the man at the Higgins' boardinghouse was. I didn't think of Mina dressing as a man.

You put those clues together nicely, Robin.

Like you all, it was a matter of elimination. Also, once I realized that Cornelius had molested Alicia, it was clear that he had done the same thing to Mina. As he had an alibi, it had to be her.

I think I actually realized Cornelius had been molesting Mina first, and so it was just built upon from there.

Although I suspected Mina, I did not actually think she was the one that committed the murder. Like I said before, the man seen leaving the boarding house shut that down for me. But looking back, Mina was described as being tall, and Frank had drawn the comparison to himself. That should have been my first clue.

Veronica wrote: "I think I started to get suspicious when Harvey, the groom, convincingly denied being Alicia's lover. I didn't think that the author would trot out some male character at the end that we'd not met ..."

I think that's when everything started falling into place for me too. Even if, until the very end, I didn't think Mina was the murderer. I thought she hated Alicia because she was the living proof of her shame, I didn't think she was jealous of the attentions her father gave her, so I couldn't picture a mother doing that to her child. I overestimated her.

Monica wrote: "But looking back, Mina was described as being tall, and Frank had drawn the comparison to himself. That should have been my first clue. "

On reread this seems so obvious now but I missed it too the first time I read this.

~ Giulia ~ wrote: "I thought she hated Alicia because she was the living proof of her shame, I didn't think she was jealous of the attentions her father gave her, so I couldn't picture a mother doing that to her child."

It's a pretty messed up family, for sure.