The most difficult part of interrogating the horses was enduring their sarcasm.

 

 

The Case of the Missing Cookies was not the most difficult mystery Dark Charity and Clever Jeanette ever solved.

 

 

To the casual observer, Dark Charity appeared as nothing more than a commonplace bibliophile.

 

 

"You'll not slip away, Sheets McGee, until you tell me all you know!"

 

 

Dark Charity and Clever Jeanette surely would have been caught out, were it not for their successful impromptu mustache disguises.

 

 

Clever Jeanette enjoyed catching up with an old friend.

 

 

The trap was set. All that was left to do was wait.

 

 

Clever Jeanette was convinced that the nefarious Dr. Whittlestone had hidden directions to his secret lair in one of these books. All she had to do was find it.

 

 

Despite his protestations, Dark Charity felt quite certain that Sheets McGee had not put all his weapons on the table.

 

 

Clever Jeanette stood at the ready, lest whatever lurked in the teapot prove unwilling to engage in civil discourse.

 

 

There must be something sinister behind the strange goings on in this garden, and we shall look high and low to find it.

 

 

Dark Charity had serious reservations about Clever Jeanette's plan for infiltrating the Ghoul's Gala.

 

I'm afraid I have a dreadful infestation of lycanthropes. The garden is quite overrun with them. Quite, quite overrun.

 

 

As soon as she saw the plants with pink flowers, Dark Charity knew she had entered the nefarious Dr. Whittlestone's diabolical garden.

 

Dark Charity and Clever Jeanette could clearly discern who, what, when, where, and how...but they were puzzled as to why.

Once Dark Charity surveyed the scene with her Spectraloccular Spyglass, it became quite obvious what was afoot.



 

Just as the lantern's light illuminated the astonishing contents of the crypt, Clever Jeanette was startled by a sudden clamor from a nearby grave.

 

Clever Jeanette and Dark Charity smiled in satisfaction at a job well done, secure in the knowledge that the statue would never disturb anyone again.

Clever Jeanette was alarmed to discover that the nefarious Dr. Whittlestone had disguised his Bronzing Ray as a parasol.

As Clever Jeanette pours over the ancient language contained in the Demononicon she feels a surge of pride at her clever plan to use the evil book against its former owners. Though she would feel slightly less clever were she to realize she is holding it upside down.

 - Caption by contest winner Rob Gill

Dark Charity's suspicions were aroused when she confirmed that all the clocks in town were precisely two minutes behind.

Clever Jeanette was more certain than ever that the angel was the key to solving the mystery of the Moaning Midnight Marauder.

I told you not to touch the starfish!

If all continued to go as planned, they would be in the Port of Koltur before the pirate crew suspected anything was amiss.

Clever Jeanette's pulse quickened as a discreet peep through the aperture confirmed her suspicion that at long last she had found an entrance to the nefarious Dr. Whittlestone's laboratory.

"I didn't know those could fly!"

Suddenly, Clever Jeanette noticed the draperies were damask. She began to form a plan.

The items in the safe...weren't.

Clever Jeanette wondered if now would be a good time to tell Dark Charity the gun was not loaded.



After thorough inspection and testing, Dark Charity and Clever Jeanette concluded beyond doubt that the suspicious object dropped by Col. Whisperthorn was, in all manner of discernible fact, a handkerchief.

The trail had come to a fork.

The knowledge of what awaited her on the second floor gave Clever Jeanette pause.

Ghost Code Section MMMDXCII, Paragraph 31, Item 7 did indeed state, On Thursday afternoons between the hours of 2:53 pm and 4:27 pm on the eve of a Vernal Equinox, Ghosts may remain ensconced in garden without retribution.

Dark Charity's new listening device worked a bit too well.

Extra! Extra! Rare golden egg missing! Police baffled!

Even after being presented with photographic evidence, there were those who remained skeptical towards Clever Jeanette's account of her encounter with the Kraken.

The ghost soon appeared just as Dark Charity predicted, for she knew no lingering spirit could long resist a rousing rendition of In the Sweet By and By.

Both Dark Charity and Clever Jeanette realized at once it was exactly the sort of place the nefarious Dr. Whittlestone would build his lair.

Clever Jeanette and Dark Charity raised a toast to another successful banishment as Bottom Half Billy returned to the sea.

No one was more intimately acquainted with the vile and dastardly hooligans of the underworld than Sheets McGee.

Ghosts? No, no, no...no ghosts here. Try the Barringon-Smythes in Number 12.

Clever Jeanette's thrill at infiltrating the Pirate crew was sorely diminished upon her assignment to Galley duty.

No one suspected that Dark Charity and Clever Jeanette were not actually members of The Spotted Hound Gentlemen's Club

A little something while you wait

Hopefully it won't be long now before our adventures are in full swing.

In the meantime, here are some excellent portraits of Dark Charity and Clever Jeanette, drawn by JR Fleming of The Airship Isabella.

Coming soon...follow the thrilling adventures of Dark Charity and Clever Jeanette - Investigators of Mysteries Natural, Unnatural, and Supernatural