We’ve all wanted to solve a ‘footprints in the sand/snow/dust’ mystery, right? Well, here’s your chance…

For one final go around from The Book of Clues (1984), John Sladek challenges you to unravel the (entry-level) conundrum of…

‘Berringer’s Beach’

The wealthy Mormon Joe Berringer loved the sea. He built his home on a private beach to be near it all the time, and he never missed a chance to go out sailing alone in his dinghy. Adele, his wife, remarked that he spent more time with his boat than with her.

Today was no exception. It had been raining in the morning. As soon as the rain stopped, about an hour after the tide began running out, Berringer told Adele and his gardener that he was going out sailing.

Later the sea turned rough again. When Berringer did not return, Adele called the Coast Guard. They found the dinghy, overturned, a few miles down the coast. Berringer’s body did not turn up.

The map shows footprints and other marks on the wet sand of Berringer’s Beach [click on the image for a larger version]. Interpret them to answer the following questions:

1. Was Berringer attacked?
2. If so, did the attack take place before he put out to sea?
3. Reconstruct the (probable) events on the beach.
4. Was Joe Berringer murdered? By whom?

Yeah, it’s not the toughest problem ever put on paper, but maybe check the answer before getting too smug…just in case, like.

~

Well, I hope these four puzzles have whetted your appetite for The Book of Clues, and I wish you good luck in stumbling over it on your travels — I’ll not be sharing any other puzzles on here, lest I actually do find myself in a copyright situation. And, who’m I kidding, it’s probably available from countless online sellers, so happy…clicking to buy it without too much waiting around or relying on good fortune, I guess. Man, the internet really has removed some of the romance from second-hand book buying, eh?