Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for November 02, 2023

Good morning™, everyone!

So, it seems that this has been going on for months, and not just in Tracy’s city.

@Another Take : When you said “downstate” yesterday, did you even guess it was from another state entirely?

well evidently, Lizz had to do some serious digging to come across this new bit of information…

well done, Lizz… it looks as if Eric has taken to heart that Lizz and Lee are MEMBERS of MCU and not just eye candy that makes obligatory walk-ons for appearances’ sake… they ARE detectives and not coffee go-getters the way Mike has them function… Mike should learn a lesson by this, as being the correct and proper way they SHOULD be preented…

good job in THAT respect, Eric… well done, sir…

Mike, are you watching?…

Good morning™, flummoxed head cops !

He wont admit it but Tracy needs the help of the A.D.D. to untangle this one. (He just doesn’t want to pay us our regular fee.) They need to put that mini bug spy gizmo on Libby to either speed things up or to stop barking up a wrong tree. Bodies are pilin’ up like cordwood !!!

Someone is going around sticking it to collectors of rare items. A body would be safer in Tracy land collecting butterflies or match sticks.

Who is behind all this? A descendent of Mack the knife?

I’d be checking to see if any of the victims had any links to Xaviera Libris just to be on the safe side.

It’s time to call on Jessica Fletcher !!!

Curious difference in MO. After killing Mantius the killer carefully hid the body so well it wasn’t found for months and cleaned the room. The other two were killed and the killer fled immediately. Despite the superficial similarities of stab wounds and stolen books I think it’s pretty clear we have two difference killers. Maybe they’re in competition.

Another “chapter” in our story!

Lizz has her turtleneck back- something’s fishy here and Dick needs to investigate. Nevertheless, she’s better looking than Edda in a turtleneck (9 Chickweed Lane), though not as horny I assume.

Tracy, if the murder of a “noted collector” was nearby, why didn’t Libris mention it? It could be that the collection is not just books, but there appears to be many books in the background in panel 2.

So 7 months from now these will both be cold cases?

Last call for your A.D.D. badges!

Don’t be left out. Get your official Armchair Detective Division badge today! Impress the masses! Be the fashionista of every party! Display your Detective status with pride for all to see. Just let me know on this post if you would like this free, but bold status symbol! I have a list of those who have requested one. There are plenty more to give out. Get yours today!!

Oy ! Sam is gonna go wild !

Sam, feeling left out of this pulse-pounding episode, retires the deli and, finding it locked for the night, jimmies his way inside. The clerk waked up and calmly takes his order. Same ol’, same ol’.

CLERK: So what do we do tonight, Stealin’?

SAM: The same thing we do EVERY night, my addlepated purveyor of pastramic delights: try to make my freckled cheeks explode by stuffing them chock full of deli meat. Oh, and frame Tracy so I can get his cushy job and top billing. Toward that end, I’ve planted a highly suspicious apple peeler in his pocket, soon to be uncovered and identified as a potential ‘murder weapon’. Now, had me that tub of slaw.

1-SAM: Can I tell it, Liz? I feel so left out. LIZ: But you never even read…

2-SAM: OK. So the original investigators missed that it was Colonel Mustard in the library with a knife.

3-DT (mightily frowning): Sam, you idiot. That was the from last night’s game of Clue that we play weekly to keep our skills sharp! This says …wait. Everything you said is accurate except that it didn’t identify Colonel Mustard as the killer!

SAM: IT IS???? DT: NO YOU IDIOT! SAM SLAM ©

MOVIE QUOTE—

“Father, you’ve become addicted to these inhalations.They’re affecting your mind and your body”

Francis Matthews to Boris Karloff—CORRiDORS OF BLOOD—1958

That’s three murders, so it’s irrelevant HOW rich our book collector is—-you gotta drag her in.

Bring Lee and Lizz along—Libris might want to wrestle

Again in the Library with a Knife? Maybe check Professor Plum’s alibi.

I wonder if the stabbing could have been done with a small letter opener.

Sam says, ‘Oy’? Funny, he doesn’t look Jewish.

Adding up the clues and it looks like Mrs. White did it in the library with a knife.

And on Christmas Day,Tonsils 2 will sing “Silent Night”.

ADD? This story has it.

Tracy accurately, if unhappily, sums up the status quo. More and more bodies. Few clues, and those not terribly helpful so far.

At least Lizz made the necessary connection, though I wonder where she found a “cold case” file on a case across the state line and out of the MCU’s jurisdiction? Riddle me that!

Uptight Xaviera Libris still looks “best” for the perp, but I think we need more substantive evidence! What are the options for the MCU?