Challenge 9
RULE REMINDER: Rapid fire multiple submissions put an unreasonable load on the servers and make it difficult for others to submit. Anyone who makes an unreasonable number of submissions will be open to disqualification. In the first instance this will mean that anyone who submits more than 20 times in 10 minutes will be disqualified.
Ups and downs
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Top Secret: For your eyes only
Jodie, I have more or less completed the investigation here and thought I should bring you up to date with my findings: a) Rogers had inherited the collection and following her appointment nine years before the incident, Maisie had curated it, acquiring a large number of rare and valuable editions of American texts. b) Following the investigations by Harper and Maisie herself, Rogers withdrew from the gubernatorial race and wrote to the Rhode Island Library to tell them that he was withdrawing the offer of his collection. He did not give a reason and did not receive a reply from them as far as I can tell. c) Rogers continued to live at the Mansion, and disappeared from public life. He continued to fund the expansion of the library, and Maisie continued to curate it. d) Upon his death Rogers left almost his entire estate to his niece Nancy Warne, who took up residence at the Manor, with the caveat that Maisie was to be allowed to live with her and to maintain the Library. e) Maisie continued to live in the east wing of the house, looking after the library until she passed away. When I got that far I thought maybe we were done and that this would go down in the annals as a dead end, to be returned to the Archaeology section as a curiosity rather than a closed case, but then I found a letter from the Rhode Island City Library to Nancy. She had offered the Library collection to the city following Maisie’s death and they were writing to tell her that following an assessment of the collection they would be unable to accept the kind offer. The reason? Their audit showed that many of the rare and valuable items were in fact fakes! No-one was ever convicted in connection with the break in or any crime connected with the forgeries. I still don’t know whether Rogers knew the books were fake, but it seems unlikely given his keenness to donate them – as we know, the fraud was bound to be exposed by the experts working at the City Library. Maybe Rogers and Maisie were victims of fraud by booksellers, but the books were bought in small batches and it doesn’t seem likely that they were both repeatedly fooled. In any case Maisie’s background in book preservation should have made it possible for her to spot at least some of the fakes. The enclosed letter from Maisie to Rogers doesn’t shed much light, but until I can crack the rest of her diary it is all I have got to go on. I feel like we are close to solving this mystery, but still not quite there. I have the original letter on my desk, but found an encrypted copy in Maisie’s diary, and since it is rather an interesting cipher, I have attached that version for the trainees to try. Let me know if they need help and I will post something in the BOSS forum. Probably over the weekend. HarryNothing to go on?
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Top Secret: For your eyes only
Dear Mr Rogers, You will never know how relieved I am to hear that the Library will remain intact and here at the Manor. I know that you were keen to support our City in its ambition to rival New York, with its Astor and Lennox libraries, but together we have spent considerable effort building a unique collection of rare and important works, and I would have been deeply saddened to lose it. I was touched by your offer to make it a condition of the donation that I should continue to be employed as the curator, but the Manor is my home as well as my workplace, and it feels right that this important collection of rare books should remain here in private hands where I can care for it properly. I am sorry to hear that you will be withdrawing from the race for Governor as I know that was a cherished ambition. I am sure you would have filled the role with distinction, but there will be other ways to serve and I think you are right that the strange death of Stanley Isles would have undermined your campaign. We know what gossip can do in the small world of Rhode Island society and your opponents would have taken great pleasure in speculating on the unexplained death in your home. As you requested, I have completed my audit of the library contents, and I can assure you that nothing is missing and no books have been harmed. I will of course continue to protect them and I hope you will agree that it is worth continuing to invest in the collection. Together we can build it into one of the finest archives of American literature on the East Coast. I understand that your niece, Nancy, will be visiting next week, and I look forward to seeing her again. While she does not share our love of fine books, she certainly loves this house and I am sure she will have her own ideas about how to freshen it up. I remain a loyal servant to you and to the Library, Maisie.This challenge closed on 13/12/2023. Please click the Official Decrypt button above to see the correct answers.
RULE REMINDER: Rapid fire multiple submissions put an unreasonable load on the servers and make it difficult for others to submit. Anyone who makes an unreasonable number of submissions will be open to disqualification. In the first instance this will mean that anyone who submits more than 20 times in 10 minutes will be disqualified.