Wannabee mystery writers looking for inspiration will find three possibilities in the news section of this Sunday’s New York Times.  I couldn’t help wondering why the elderly man was standing at the news stand, reading the front page – until I bought the paper.

The cover story – Twist in 97-Year-Old’s Murder: His Knifing was 5 Decades Ago – tells of a man knifed near Times Square over 50 years ago who survived until the old wound “done him in”  in old age.  Would he have lived to 100, were it not for that hapless encounter?  And whodunnit?  No clues – everyone is long dead.

Alan Cowell’s article – After Long Legal Fight, Inquest Is Set to Begin in Death of Putin Critic – recounts the mysterious death of a Russian who dared to criticize.  Death by poison in his tea by spies?  Could be fodder for the next John Le Carre thriller.

And best of all, the tale of a young editor at Dell, Vivian Grant, a frequent visitor to the Ayn Rand Murray Hill salon, who died of a botched abortion – but she was never pregnant.  This story may already be taken: Joanne O’Connor lives in Grant’s former Manhattan apartment and is researching the details – including finding her cat.

Great Sunday for “truth is stranger than fiction.”

Related Articles:

• Searching for Answers in the 1961 Death of an Ayn Rand Follower
• A Twist in the Murder of a 97-Year-Old Man: He Was Knifed 5 Decades Ago