Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Vol. 63, No. 2. Whole No. 363, February 1974

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Nick Velvet’s 19th caper — and in at least two respects you will find this exploit different from the 18 previous adventures. But as before Nick is still accepting assignments to steal only the valueless — that is, things valueless to most people and certainly not worth Nick’s fee (in this case) of $30,000; and Nick is still forced to detect before he can collect...

“It’s for you, Nicky,” Gloria yelled from the telephone, and Nick Velvet put down the beer he’d been savoring. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon in late winter, when the snow had retreated to little lumps beneath the shady bushes and a certain freshness was already apparent in the air. It was a time of year that Nick especially liked, and he was sorry to have his reverie broken.

“Yes?” he spoke into the phone, after taking it from Gloria’s hand.

“Nick Velvet?” The voice was deep and a bit harsh, but that didn’t surprise him. He’d been hearing that sort of voice on telephones for years.

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