Such a Mystery!
Mom never wanted her son Dave to become a policeman. "For all the brains it takes, believe me, you might as well be in business with your uncles." Besides, "All those gangsters and dope fiends and bookies and hatchet murderers and other such goniffs; isn't it possible you could get hurt some day?" It's not difficult to solve crimes, Mom explains—and it's certainly not for her.
Dave and his very superior, Wellesley-educated wife, Shirley, have dinner with Mom in the Bronx every Friday evening. Between the chicken soup and the schnecken, Dave talks about his current cases. Mom is not interested in what she describes as sophie-ological analysis and psycho-annihilating the suspects, but her long experience in dealing with scheming butchers, nosey neighbors, and eccentric relatives leads her to a logical solution to all Dave's mysteries. "By yourself, you should've guessed it," Mom says, but it takes Mom's insight into personality to unravel the crime.
Thirty years ago, Ellery Queen wrote that it was "sure as death and 'tectives" that a collection of Mom short stories would appear. Witty, wise, and filled with warmth, the Mom tales are some of the finest armchair detective stories ever written.
James Yaffe is the author of many novels and stage plays, as well as the non-fiction The American Jews. He began writing for Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine as a teenager in 1943. He is a professor of literature at Colorado College in Colorado Springs.
- "“妈，你见过大都会歌剧院外排队买站票的队伍吧？”我说，“每场演出开始的半小时前，售票处会以每张两美元五十美分的价格出售站票，先到先得。歌剧迷会提前数小时在歌剧院外排队。他们在外面站三个小时，只是为了能在里面站三个小时！这群人真是疯了！”"
- "“妈，你这话不合逻辑，”雪莉提出质疑，“你的未婚夫干出了他的父亲无法容忍的事，自然不想被发现。但是这个姓奥蒂斯的小伙子，照你的话说，一直在做父亲会赞同的事，他为何试图隐瞒？” “你已经给出了答案。因为他父亲也赞同。其实，在他上高中时，他父亲就已经为他指明了路，结果被他断然拒绝。几个月前，他终于发现父亲是对的，于是报名上了夜校，此后一直在努力学习。但他不想向自己失败的父亲承认这一点。他不想听到‘我早就告诉过你’之类的话。这世上有什么东西比得过男人的尊严？ “一段时间后，父子俩陷入了恶性循环，拉斐尔坚决不肯说他晚上去了哪里，导致父亲火气越来越大，也让拉斐尔更加执拗。直到最后，即使被警方逮捕，他也无"
