Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for May 10, 2019

There’s really only one suspect. ✨

Yup, you were staring at him at that dinner table!

Good morning™, light bulb moments !

We already know, don’t we Mr. Hart ?

Good morning™, undercover G-men!

Another clue today: Cut and Muscle don’t know who murdered the officer, so it’s not the mob.

Someone unexpected. Acting out of character.

It’s Father Waldemar! I just know it!

Is it just me or did that spicy omelette smell fishy?

can’t imagine what a spicy omelette’s got to do with the husband having hired a killer. The proximity of the husband’s house to the house of the killer (see two strips back) may have.

maybe he cooked a spicy omelette to irritate his eyes so he could be shown to be all teary?

….called it here several days ago…..when he seemed to be grieving more over money than her….

Yes, it’s the husband, although I have no idea how Tracy can prove that. Pepper spray is seriously thin as evidence.

“I’m not saying stop the raids” – even though there’s no reason for them now. But Jim doesn’t want to ruin Tracy’s fun.

I’ll get it in a minit.

Oh Duh!!!

As that brilliant investigative mind, Lt. Provenza [of Major Crimes} always says, IT’S ALWAYS THE HUSBAND!

Aha! I thought that Pat Patton guy was suspicious!!!!!

The cliché is obvious. The hubby did it. (Hope I’m wrong)

Wow, they’re lucky no one put a “bug” in the phone… or did they?

So…does anyone thought that this Minit Mystery was a good waste of two weeks? NOT ME!! I love this latest edition! Of course, it’s not finished yet.

Nice set up today. Eager to see how it’s revealed.

Duh! Of course, Tracy is the culprit. His crooked past is finally revealed!

Pepper spray, then an emotional breakdown. “We’re about to arrest your wife’s killer”, then the killer forewarned. Fairly obvious, I think.

This fascination with pepper spray is amusing. This “recollection” is supposedly taking place in the 30s (although it jumps around) and pepper spray wasn’t even used until the 80s. It may mean something, but one must suspend disbelief to guess what the outcome will be. My guess. Brett Butler did it.

Joe Staton’s artwork (especially on the daily strips with Shelley Pleger’s inks) is always fantastic, but I have especially enjoyed it over the course of this “Minute Mystery”

My blind cat Aemon Targaryen spotted the clues.

So, if the husband had his wife killed… Where did he get the money or who did him a “favor” by paying the hitman ? Big Boy or somebody else ? And who put him in touch with the hit man ?Big Boy or… ?

I am looking forward to see I g how Tracy will solve the murder…

who is it?? I can’t stand this anymore! Some one tell me who it is!

I’ve enjoyed all of the “Minit Mysteries” and this one is no exception. They make for interesting changes of pace. The first few gave us glimpses of how other artists would handle Tracy. I have no desire at all to lose Staton’s art, but the different stylings were entertaining. This time, Staton himself has provided the different style, which is even more fun. Also, as one who isn’t up on the early days of the strip, setting part of the story more-or-less in the 1930s was cool. (I’m a history geek; I’d love to see a full-length story set back in gangster days. (Perhaps as a flash-back?) If Staton used the old-style layouts that would make it even better.)Anyway; my thanks and appreciation to the whole creative team for this entertaining version of Tracy!

I have really enjoyed this sequence since it is also historical for the strip. Suitably altered yet still timely.

The husband is too obvious. Jim Trailer did it, on orders from J. Edgar, who simply couldn’t bear the idea of a black woman married to a white man working in law enforcement.

Tracy and the last panel immediately reminded me of Jim Hutton facing the camera, announcing he solved the mystery, and asking the viewing audience if they have also before the last commercial break in most episodes of the Ellery Queen television series from the late 1970s. I’m guessing some of the commenters here remember that. This has been what I believe the Minit Mysteries should be like, with the writer actually providing clues so that the readers have a chance of solving the case. It’s just a shame there isn’t enough time in this format to develop more suspects.

Gee, Tracy, why has it taken you so long to come to the same conclusion that most of us reached days ago?! “…I realized I’d been missing the obvious.” Holy super detective!

Hmmm… if the husband was the killer, which seems to be the case since he’s abut the only other character with a speaking part in this “Mystery,” it would really undercut the best moment of this narrative, the poignant Sunday strip where Tracy explained the support, financial & otherwise, Officer Hart’s husband would receive as the next of kin of an officer slain in the line of duty on behalf of a grateful community, The one sympathetic character would immediately become a villain (again, assuming the husband did it).

Lucian is right-handed. The shooter appears to be left-handed, in the panel showing the shooter shooting through the passenger window of the car he was in at Officer Hart through her driver window. (How Tracy would know the shooter used their left hand, I’m not sure – the passenger could have shot using their right arm also.)

Mr Hart appears to be left-handed – he sprays the omelette with his left hand, and then switches to holding the frypan in his left. (Pepper spray is a red herring.) Hart’s motive could have been the insurance payout.

Lucian was right-handed.

The last panel above has Tracy staring at his left hand holding the phone. A hint.

Note there’ a a question of who was driving the shooter’s car.

Hardly enough to convict I should think, but warrants more investigation.