"Far from the Perfect Crime"

"Eye Witness."

By Grant Lane (house pseudonym used by William G. Bogart, 1903-77).

First appearance: Underworld Detective, July 1935.

Short short short story (3 pages).

Online at The Luminist Archives (HERE; go to text page 66).

(Parental caution: Violence and language.)

   "In former years, Slip had done a lot of thinking of the perfect crime. He congratulated himself now on having pulled one. It was such a cinch."

The perfect crime. Yeah, sure . . .

Principal characters:

~ Slip Leighton:

  "Too bad everybody didn't have brains like Slip. But then everyone couldn't be smart."

~ Stan Fraser:

  "Looked as though Stan Fraser was doing pretty well with himself these days. Well—why not? Hadn't he and Lea given Slip the run-around and let him take the rap?"

~ Lea Turner:

  "A slight moan broke from her lips. But that was all."

~ Manx:

  "Slip knew immediately that the cat was a Manx. It was the cat Stan had had ever since Slip knew him."

~ The old lady:

  "She eyed him critically, expecting an apology. But Slip never apologized to anyone."

~ Detective Smythe:

  ". . . huge and with a beety red face, steamed in."

Typo: Is it Stan "Fraser" or Stan "Frazer"?

Reference and resources:

- "a Manx":

  "The Manx cat (in earlier times often spelled Manks) is a breed of domestic cat (Felis catus) originating on the Isle of Man, with a mutation that shortens the tail. Many Manx have a small stub of a tail, but Manx cats are best known as being entirely tailless; this is the most distinguishing characteristic of the breed, along with elongated hind legs and a rounded head." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- Writing as "Kenneth Robeson," our author (William G. Bogart) produced 3 Doc Savage novels on his own and with Lester Dent wrote 11 more (FictionMags HERE), plus dozens of stories in several pulp genres.

- You could also be interested in Edmund Pearson's take on the perfect crime (HERE).

- You might find it alarming how many university students have plotted perfect crimes (fictionally, of course), at least six of them, but the pros do get a representation with David Morrison's "Slight Detail" (HERE).

- Finally, we discussed Bogart's wartime crime story "Murder on Santa Claus Lane" (HERE) a few years ago while the story link was still available.

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~