From THIS GUN FOR HIRE. I love newspaper mock-ups. They’re usually like a big headline EARTH INVADED! and then lots of smaller stories like FARMERS PROTEST TAX HIKE.
CHEMIST AND WOMAN MURDERED is a little ambiguous: are we talking about two people, or one female chemist? “I admired her as a chemist and a woman.” But no, it’s a “couple slain” kind of thing.
KILLER AT LARGE, shrieks the sub-head. Which we know to be true. And he’s Alan Ladd.
What’s unusual is how the other stories seem to tie together.
BIDS GIVEN ON BRIDGE PROJECT. Hmm. Maybe not.
THREE PERSONS DIE IN CRASH; Passengers Hasty Exit from Blazing Street Car; FIRE DESTROYS STATE ARSENAL; FIREMEN, 18, HURT AS ENGINE UPSETS.
Is this all about a single terrible conflagration? Perhaps Chernobyl?
Besides this, the puzzling BANKERS URGED TO SEE SELVES AS PUBLIC SEES THEM may refer to the Tully Marshall character we meet later? Is he a banker? It feels like he LIVES in a bank.
And, finally, NEW LIVING BUDDHA REPORTED DISCOVERED add a welcome touch of the bizarre. Possibly a reference to Veronica Lake, whose smile projects and inspires serenity.
shadowplay 