Of all the different types of mysteries, the 'locked room' type seems to be the most baffling.
Author Gene Grossman tackled the genre head-on in his "The Magician's Legacy," number 7 in the Peter Sharp Legal Mysteries, and here in number 14 of the series he attempts to present it in another form - a boat at sea.
In this case, the victim is alone on his boat, half way between Catalina Island and Marina del Rey California when he makes a distress call to the Coast Guard.
After his first few words are spoken, a gunshot is heard and the transmission ends.
An investigation reveals that he was alone on the boat at the time and that local radar units in the Coast Guard station and nearby Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) show absolutely no other boats in the vicinity of the victim's at the time of the gunshot.
The authorities rule the death a suicide, but Peter Sharp's legal ward Suzi, an adorable little 13-year-old computer whiz, feels in her heart that it's murder. She knew the victim, because he was one of Peter Sharp's boat neighbors in the marina.
If you're a true mystery fan, you'll enjoy trying to match wits with a 13-year-old and see if you can beat her to finally solving this 'locked-boat' mystery case.
