Introduction

Dualshock 3 for scale, paperweight for convenience, gloves for hands.

Welcome to Murder off Miami penned by crime fiction writer Dennis Wheatley, and planned by his friend, art historian Joseph Gluckstein Links.



Wheatley on the left, Links on the right, also starring Sunny and his piano.

What's it all about?







Our ultimate goal is here.



The seal was open on my used copy. I took a peak and sealed it back with a bit of modern tape.
You'll have to solve the mystery first, then we'll see if your answer is right.

History
Murder off Miami hit the shelves on the 23rd of July 1936, priced 3 shillings and 6 pence. What had been originally considered a crazy idea both by the publisher and all sane retailers ended up selling 120000 copies in the first six months. The authors' royalties were set at one penny since the concept was a gamble and each copy was a complete arse to put together by hand.

The book's popularity both in Britain and overseas inspired a number of imitations, not to mention three other crime dossiers from Wheatley and Links themselves. Then, World War 2 started for some reason.

For more historical context: Murder off Miami came out shortly after the then still flipper-less pinball machines had introduced tilt detectors, and shortly after Monopoly had hit the market. Also, four decades later the first CYOA book, Sugarcane Island, was published after years of oblivion.

Murder off Miami is responsible for Infocom's legendary "feelies". Their first game to include them, Deadline, came with an evidence file that was basically a cheap version of these dossiers.

LP
What I have here is the 1979 edition. All four of the Wheatley's dossiers were recreated around that time, nearly identical to the 1930s originals apart from minor differences in the cover designs. The book has been effectively out of print since 1979, because the 1986 hardcover editions of the series replaced all physical evidence with photos.
Anyway, I'll handle it wearing gloves to prevent the book and myself from smearing one another.
Interviews and reports will be transcribed, everything else will be photographed for the sake of preserving the format. For better immersion in the reading try sniffing on some really old book.

NO SPOILERS

Table of Contents

• Update 1: Pages 1 to 15a. A plain case of suicide.
• Update 2: Pages 16 to 30. Have the Jap cold between us.
• Update 3: Pages 31 to 44. I have a large flock you know.
• Update 4: Pages 45 to 58. No Ordinary Virgin.
• Update 5: Pages 59 to 70. Eating Solids.
• Update 6: Pages 71 to 86. Cock and bull story.
• Update 7: Pages 87 to 97. Rudeness and obstruction.
• Update 8: Pages 98 to 109. Doing some funny business.
• Update 9: Pages 110 to 131. Oh Lordy!
• //solution below//
• Update 10: Pages 131 to 138. I killed him.