I’ve said before that detective fiction lost a fine proponent of the form when John Sladek, after two novels and a handful of stories, abandoned the genre in favour of SF. Except, well, he didn’t quite abandon it altogether…

The Book of Clues (1984) might well be Sladek’s final publication in the crime genre, but absolutely should not be overlooked on that account. Comprising 24 mysteries presented to the reader to solve, with solutions provided separately, these Baffle Book-esque puzzles are notable for containing some pretty canny clues alongside Sladek’s own mischievous sense of fun — just look, after all, at the date on which this first story occurs — and deserve to be better-known.

And I say “just look” because I’m going, over the next four Tuesdays, to provide the texts of four problems alongside the diagrams and, crucially, the solutions, so that you, dear reader, can enjoy a slice of this hard-to-find book for yourself. Is this copyright infringement? Well, I’m providing these in the spirit of fun and not seeking to make any money from it, so let’s hope not, eh?

And so, I give you…

‘An Arab Death’

On the 31st of June, 1980, Sheik Abdul Hajid of Amahlia was found stabbed to death in his suite at the Caverley Hotel, London. The sheik had been living for some months at the hotel. He had taken an entire floor to accommodate himself, his wives and children, servants and retainers. There was office space here from which he ran his oil business. In addition, there was a prayer room. The sheik was a devout Muslim, and he set aside one room at the north-west corner for prayer and meditation [1 – see diagram]. Next to it was a locked office [2 – see diagram], and across the hall were other locked offices [5 – see diagram].

It was in this room that the body was discovered, at 6:15 p.m., by his wife Fatima. She had gone to look for him in his office [4]; not finding him there, she’d looked into the reception room [3]. There were two men waiting, one of whom said he’d heard the sheik go out. She then tried the prayer room. As the picture shows, the sheik lay face down on a small prayer rug, as though he had been stabbed in the back while bowing down in prayer. There was blood on the rug but not on the floor. The ornamental dagger used in the stabbing had been a letter-opener in his office. At 6:28 a doctor examined the body and estimated that death had taken place more than an hour earlier.

The police then examined security arrangements for the suite, and found them satisfactory. The sheik’s floor could only be reached by a single lift [7], with an armed guard below and another above. The fire stairs [6] were sealed — an illegal but effective measure.

Since no intruder murdered Sheik Abdul, suspicion naturally fell on legitimate visitors and on his family. Servants and guards, all devoted to the sheik for many years, were ruled out of the investigation. That left his grown son Daoud, his wife Fatima and three visitors. The other members of the family had gone out shopping for the entire afternoon.

Daoud gave this statement: “I last saw my father at some time between 4:30 and 5:00, in his office. I wanted to talk to him about abdicating in my favour. I’ve been trying for some time to make him see it’s the best thing for everyone — his health isn’t what it was, and besides, it’s time Amahlia had a young ruler with modern ideas. I found him in his office, studying a large map of oilfields, which he’d unrolled over his desk. So I couldn’t see whether the letter-opener knife was there or not. Father seemed very agitated and angry. I saw there was no point in bringing up the touchy subject of abdication at this time. So I went back to our quarters [8]. Fatima and a servant and I played gin rummy the rest of the afternoon, until Fatima went and found the body.”

Fatima and the servant confirmed this story, but neither could swear that Daoud did not leave the room.

The first visitor was Andrew Gage, who arrived in time for his 5:00 appointment. Gage was a geologist who had been doing survey work for Sheik Abdul. “I was being called on the carpet,” he said. “Someone in my office made a mistake on the map, and Sheik Abdul seemed to think I was deliberately trying to rip him off! Undervaluing assets he intended to lease to an oil company. He started shouting at me, saying he’d had enough of British con-men and swindlers. I blew my stack too. Hell, I’ve been living and working in the Middle East for years. I speak Arabic. I’m friends with a lot of oil sheiks — and to be accused of a cheap trick like that! — I shouted a few names back at him, and then I stormed out.

“That dagger of his was there, all right. He was using it to point out things on the map. I couldn’t help but notice it.

“That was the last I saw of him. I couldn’t have been with him for more than five minutes. Then I slammed out and went to the lift. This other man got off as I got on.”

The other man was Gordon Haricot, the sheik’s stockbroker. Arriving early for his 5:30 appointment, he was directed to the reception room. He confirmed seeing Gage at the lift, looking “red-faced and wild”. Haricot claimed that he never saw the sheik at all. “Since there was no receptionist on duty in the reception room, I gave a rap on his door and announced myself. Then I sat and waited. Never heard a sound from the office. Except that once I heard the other door shut, which I assume was him going out. I’m not sure of the time. Then at 5:55, this other gentleman arrived. We both waited. Fatima came looking for the sheik then, and shortly after, we were told he was dead.

“The purpose of my visit was to discuss his portfolio. He insisted on seeing me face to face about it, but I’m not sure why. Frankly, I don’t understand the Arab mind, sometimes. He was my only Arab client. I know nothing about them, except that they can be very difficult over nothing at all.”

The third visitor was Hamel Habib, whose story agreed with Haricot’s. He was Sheik Abdul’s minister of state, and had been virtually governing Amahlia in the sheik’s absence. There had been some public speculation that he liked running it so well, he did not wish the sheik to return, ever.

Habib, however, dismissed this as idle newspaper gossip. “I was actually summoned to see Sheik Abdul on quite a different matter. We were to discuss ways of moving large amounts of Amahlia’s assets out of Britain, quietly. Evidently he felt he’d been cheated by some Englishman — a stockbroker or such — and now mistrusted them all. I naturally meant to talk him out of this obsession. But of course I never got to see him.”

It was established that Habib had never visited the sheik’s hotel suite before. All times of arrival and departure were verified by the lift guards, who had no more information to impart.

Assuming the sheik was murdered by either Fatima, Daoud, Gage, Haricot or Habib…

1. Who had the opportunity to kill him?
2. Was he murdered in the prayer room?
3. What clue points to the murderer?

When you’ve given this some thought, the solution can be found by clicking here.

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Well, I hope you enjoyed that; more of Sladek’s playful ingenuity next week.