Assassin

Assassin is the second book in the Literary Mosaic series. It is notable for being the debut of recurring character Elvira Revinev.

Summary
Gunnarson returns home to find a woman in his house, distraught about the murder of a man would works for the British government. As they step outside, however, the woman is shot, and air raid sirens go off simultaneously, preventing him from investigating further.

After the air raid is over, Gunnarson reaches the crime scene, where Davis Gent informs him that the victim was a man by the name of Walter Farley. Gunnarson examines the crime scene and comes up with a surprising amount of evidence: From this, Gunnarson reasons that the murderer was blonde, had size 14 shoes, and a distinctive scarf.
 * 1) A coded message, found by an officer.
 * 2) Three cigarettes, still smoldering.
 * 3) Two shoe prints, one partial and one complete.
 * 4) A bottle of beer, of a foreign brand, Freiberger Beer.
 * 5) A torn scarf with a unique pattern, clutched tightly in the victim's hand.
 * 6) Some hair, caught in the victim's fingernails.
 * 7) A broken half to a walking stick, that matched a bruise on the victim's back.
 * 8) The shell casing from the fired bullet.

The following day, Gunnarson tries to decode the note, but the result is very cryptic. "Your red dog's life isn't there. Is there an in joke? Watch out for danger!" Desperate for a break, Gunnarson interprets "red dog" as code for a pub called Godred's, and heads there.

Meanwhile, Elvira Revinev murders a man, Evan Evanov, in a back alley. Her employer tells her that her next task is to kill a man in Ipswitch by making him drown in his own blood. She considers it difficult, but a fun challenge.

Meanwhile, after a punny encounter with his friend Richard Watson, Gunnarson discovers a literal red herring, inside of which is another cryptic note referencing the Tower Of London. Gunnarson hurries there, where he meets Gent. The two follow a shifty character who is purchasing ice skates and seems to match all the clues. However, they are surprised to discover that the man in question is innocent, and only am innocent exchanging notes with a woman named Annie. The two hurry to the tower bridge too late to stop the real murderers, but do have a chance encounter with the Prime Minister.

Out of luck, Gunnarson reveals his final trick: the cigarettes in question, Royal Guard Cigarettes, are only sold at one tobacco shop in all of London, Crossman Tobacco. The owner, Eric Gulden, recognizes the description given, but is killed by a slow acting poison before he can reveal the names. Luckily, the duo are able to find the list of costumers who buy Royal Guard: William Cook, Franz Gelb, Jacob Reese, Edgar Jones, Henrich Werner, and Samuel Elmore. However, their attention is diverted by a note in the ledger in Chinese, which, after brief confusion of the identities of Gaylord Wilkins, with a scar, and Damien Wilkins and Mike Wilkins, who both speak Chinese, Mike Wilkins translates the note to read "Today, Mr. Hello! Hello there! How are you? I'm good, and you? Roll your mother! This is your opponent beat you!", which Gunnarson interprets as a taunt.

After noting that the store was oddly empty, Gunnarson leaves, but encounters and is shot by Elvira. He lives thanks to a flask in his pocket, but Elvira eludes capture. The next day, Gunnarson and Gent gather the six and notice how closely Gelb and Cook fit the description. They procure fingerprints of each, and Gelb is a match. After being arrested, he confesses immediately, before Gunnarson suddenly exclaims that they were completely wrong and runs off. Meanwhile, Elvira boards a ship, which is sunk by U-boats with no survivers.

The following day, Gunnarson gathers Gent, Gelb, and Reginald Walters, before explaining that the evidence pointing to Gelb was too conclusive and a murderer wouldn't be so sloppy, declaring Gelb framed and revealing the murderer to be the revealed to have survived Elvira.

Gunnarson explains that Reginald Walters killed his sister, Emily Walters, the woman who died right before the air raid. Furthermore, Elvira's mysterious employer was Reginald Walters. Gelb was not a murderer, but faked the air raid so Elvira could get away due to being in love with her, also explaining his false confession. Further, Elvira sunk the ship she was on to fake her death. The others aware understandably confused, but he is proven correct, and Gelb walks free after receiving some cryptic advice from Gunnarson.

REWRITE:

Assassin is regarded among the writers to be the weakest of the stories. In light of this; a rewrite is currently in the works to fix numerous plot holes and inconsistencies. Upon completion, the rewrite will be the canon LM 2.