Thomas P. Stanwick

Even those unacquainted with Thomas P. Stanwick are often struck by his appearance. A lean and lanky man in his early thirties, he stands six feet two inches tall. His long, thin face is complemented by a full head of brown hair and a droopy mustache. Though not husky in build, he is surprisingly strong and enjoys ruggedly good health.

His origins and early life are obscure. He is undeniably well educated, however, for he graduated with high honors from Dartmouth College as a philosophy major and studied logic and history at Cambridge University in England for a year or two afterwards. He now lives alone (with a pet labrador named Rufus) in a bungalow in the New England town of Baskerville, not far from the city of Royston. His home is filled with books, chess sets, maps, and charts. There he earns a living as a freelance editor of textbooks on geometry and American history.

Personally, Stanwick is good-natured and amiable. His relaxed manner conceals the strength of his convictions and the intensity of his intellectual interests. He enjoys the company of his many friends, but cherishes his personal freedom and independence. The regular patterns of his life suit him well, and the pursuit of wealth, fame, or power holds no attraction for him.

His main interests are his intellectual pursuits. First and foremost, he is an amateur logician, particularly skilled in traditional formal deduction. As an incessant student of its theoretical and practical aspects, he is fascinated by all sorts of mysteries and puzzles. Aside from pure logic, his interests include philosophy, chess, history, music, literature, and etymology. An avid bibliophile, he owns hundreds of books on those topics.

Stanwick’s personal tastes are simple. A casual dresser, he almost never wears a tie. His eating preferences are old-fashioned and include beef and potatoes. An ardent Anglophile, he has several British habits acquired during his many long stays in England. He prefers tea to coffee, for example, and smokes a pipe.

Besides seeing his friends, Stanwick’s favorite recreations are reading and chess. He is also fond of hiking in the New England hills. He takes long travel vacations in the summertime and often visits England then. Sometimes he stays with the Earl of Stanwyck, a distant relative, at the Earl’s East Anglian estate or at his country estate in Scotland. He also enjoys visiting London and Cambridge, where he still has many friends from his student days. When home in Baskerville, he carries on an active correspondence.

He spends many of his evenings conversing with friends at the Royston Chess Club and elsewhere. When he has a hand in investigating and solving crimes, it is usually through his friendship with Inspector Matt Walker, a promising detective on the Royston police force who is about five years older than Stanwick. They play chess together at the chess club on Thursday evenings, and Stanwick occasionally drops by headquarters about midday to visit.

Stanwick’s interest in criminal cases is purely that of a logician. In that capacity, as Walker would be the first to admit, he is frequently very useful.

Adapted from Five-Minute Whodunits by Stan Smith (Sterling Publishing, 1997)

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