Mitch and Al Mystery

Timing is everything, says St. Paul Daily Dispatch photographer Alan Jeffrey when he's asked why somebody always gets killed when he and Daily Dispatch reporter Warren "Mitch" Mitchell are visiting Martha's Vineyard. Mitch and Al and their cartoonist companion, Dave Jerome, are on the celebrated vacation isle to testify for the prosecution in the trial of identical twins Ima and Ura Jewell, who are accused of murdering Dave's uncle, Walter Jerome. The twins, who were Walter's financial advisers, had also tried to murder this answer-hungry trio after confessing that they'd killed Walter because he'd caught them stealing $500,000 from his account. As the trial of the glamorous twins begins, a new mystery arises when two visitors from St. Paul are shot to death by a professional killer on Grand Illumination Night on the grounds of the historic Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Association. While Mitch, Al and Dave puzzle over who hired the killer and why, another shooting takes place in the same Campgrounds cottage. The search to identify the person who paid the killer leads the three friends, who fashion themselves as The Three Musketeers, into a fast and furious deep water boat chase and a too-close encounter with a fast-moving airplane. Meanwhile, the murder trial moves on toward an uncertain verdict as the defense goes on offense against Mitch, Al and Dave.

When Mitch Mitchell and his buddy, photographer Alan Jeffrey, receive a hot tip on a bone-chilling day in March, they arrive on the scene of an apparent missing-persons case, neither knowing quite what they've gotten themselves into. Mitch, hoping to keep his job at the Daily Dispatch in the midst of proposed layoffs, investigates the case in an attempt to crack it-like the ice on the St. Croix in spring-wide open. While the sheriff is at risk of losing his patience, the intrepid reporter risks losing his girlfriend to the plains of Fargo, not to mention his job and his life. Can Mitch solve the case before the melting St. Croix destroys all the evidence?

The Minnesota State Fair is famous for its endless variety of foods on a stick, so reporter Warren "Mitch" Mitchell and his photographer buddy Alan Jeffrey are surprised when they're sent to the fairgrounds to cover the introduction of still another stick-bound treat. The new novelty, called Square Meal on a Stick, is introduced by its celebrity inventor, Vinnie Luciano, owner of one of St. Paul's most successful restaurants. The program is held at Heritage Square, backed by square dancers and their handsome caller. The square is broken when Vinnie falls dead after taking three bites from his concoction. Will Mitch and Al square-off against the killer who poisoned the Square Meal?

The sun isn't even over the horizon at Madrigal's Lodge on Gull Lake, and an empty motorboat is slowly circling the bay. The Governor's Fishing Opener just got a lot more exciting. Luckily, St. Paul Daily Dispatch reporter Warren "Mitch" Mitchell and photographer Alan Jeffrey are on the scene. They discover the boat had been rented out by the governor's press secretary, whose body is soon found by a dive team. The autopsy reveals some unexpected results, and soon Mitch and Al are trying to get to the bottom of the mess-and still get home in time for Mitch's wedding.

A nationally-known historian has disappeared while on a research mission in a small Massachusetts town that was born as a utopian religious community, and the St. Paul newspaper reporter-photographer team of Warren "Mitch" Mitchell and Alan "Al" Jeffrey is sent by their editor to cover the manhunt. Dr. Pinchas M. Butz, who was studying the life of 18th-century utopian minister Adin Ballou in the tiny town of Hopedale, has not been seen for several days when Mitch and Al arrive on the scene. When the wrapper from the professor's favorite candy bar is found in a wooded hiking area, the missing person search turns into an all-out hunt for a body. The body is uncovered in the woods and the search for Dr. Butz twists to a hunt for his knife-wielding killer. Mitch needs to get home soon because his wife, Martha, is being stalked by a mysterious stranger on the streets of St. Paul, but when he and Al come face to face with the professor's killer, they are left stranded in a snowstorm, searching for a way to get in out of the cold.

Marilee Anderson disappeared twenty-five years ago at the age of fifteen, but police are digging up the rose garden behind her parents' home in search of new evidence on a hot summer day in St. Paul. Marilee was last seen on a Sunday morning, when her father sent her off to a convenience store three blocks from home to buy a loaf of bread. Reporter Warren "Mitch" Mitchell and photographer Alan Jeffrey of the Daily Dispatch are the first newsmen on the scene at the Anderson home, but they learn almost nothing from closed-mouthed police until the diggers turn up a human skeleton. To everyone's amazement, the bones prove to be those of a young adult male. Police suspect that the mysterious remains are those of Jimmy Bjornquist, a teenager who worked at the convenience store and disappeared the same day as Marilee. But Jimmy turns up living on the West Coast, and he tells Mitch what happened at the store on the day Marilee vanished. Jimmy's story raises the possibility that Marilee is still alive somewhere. After a man who offers to give them some current information about Marilee turns up dead, Mitch and Al respond to an invitation from an anonymous phone caller and find themselves staring down the barrel of a gun.