I feel pretty, oh so pretty, I feel pretty and witty and...

I notice that a few of you--well, actually A LOT of you are having trouble with the current contest (#3 for those who are keeping count).

One question in particular seems to be throwing my little gumshoes.

9) Who among the following does NOT write a mystery
series featuring a gay private eye:
a-Richard Stevenson
b-Greg Herren
c- Josh Lanyon
d-Dorien Grey

As many of you have pointed out, ALL of these novels feature gay sleuth protagonists. The key (or the "trick," if you so choose to think of it) is the term "private eye."

The P.W.A (Private Eye Writers of America) define a "private eye" as any mystery protagonist who is a professional investigator, but not a police officer or government agent. The full definition is, and I quote, "a person paid for investigative work but not employed by a unit of government. Thus books and stories about private investigators (licensed and unlicensed), lawyers and reporters who do their own legwork, and other hired agents are eligible; works centering on law enforcement officers or amateur sleuths are not."

And I repeat..."AMATEUR SLEUTHS ARE NOT."

See what I'm hinting here? (If all caps can be considered a hint.) You are looking for the sleuth who is not paid to sleuth. You are looking for an Amateur Sleuth.

When I first joined the DorothyL listserv oh so many years ago I didn't realize that there was a difference between a private eye and an amateur sleuth. Then of course I met Mr. Thrilling and all was revealed. (But I'll protect you from THAT.)

Because I'm rather frantically busy at the moment I've left Contest #3 up for a second week--therefore we will have two winners from Contest #3--meaning if you blew it the first time around, you can go ahead and re-enter with the correct answer.

Also the winner to contest #2 submitted an email address that doesn't work. So we had to re-do the drawing (thank goodness I hung on to all the names). I felt especially bad because he was the only gentleman we've had so far who correctly answered all the questions. What up with that?

Just another puzzle in a rather mysterious world!