Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for November 14, 2023

Good morning™, everyone!

So, if I understand Tracy correctly, Caxton’s grandparents and Libris’s grandparents worked together in a firm that they were all partners in. The explanation is a bit ambiguous, but that’s what I take from it.

“Book her, Sammo!”

And??

Good morning™, pre kill partners !

I’m still in the dark as to how this chummy arrangement went bad and how so ?

“Why, that lying little witch!!!”

Fabulous illustration of a piece of paper WITH WRITING ON IT!! by Shelley today!

Libris must have gone to “if I’m not asked, I won’t tell” academy. Probably was the head of her class. Always stayed on the honor roll.

Is this storyline tied to theft of intellectual property?

She was saving that for later in the strip.

“IN THE RED CORNER, THE TEAM OF CAXTON/LIBRIS…AND THEIR OPPONENTS, FIGHTING OUT OF THE BLUE CORNER, THE TEAM OF HATFIELD/McCOY”

Tracy is looking for a motive more than a hundred years old? Which, of course, has no bearing whatsoever on the three other murders we know about in order to acquire rare volumes. (Murder of backroom guy doesn’t count, it was murder to keep him silent – after he’d already announced he wasn’t saying anything more – which we all knew to be ironic prophetic.)

The current Ms Libris says she didn’t know Caxton well… Tracy is discovering their grandparents were in business together? Does he think that means Libris was lying? Heck, I don’t know the grandkids of anyone my grandparents were friends with. I would think he’d be spending his time on something more closely related to the murders.

Unless his ESP is kicking up again.

And I can see the DA in the courtroom, “Your Honor, I can prove that the grandfather of Ms Libris was in business with Robert Caxton!”

Courtroom, and jurors, gasp in astonishment… Or rather yawn in boredom.

The next day’s MCU Brainstorming Session. Tracy presents evidence that around 1919 a Caxton-Libris business partnership was founded at the instigation of Gordon Libris, “famed collector of books,” who persuaded “his chum” Bob Caxton to join him for the acquisition if a specific “beautiful item,” which we may assume, I think, is the 1290 Book of Hours called The Virgin’s Song.

But something seems to have gone sour in that partnership, with the book ending up in the Caxton famuly treasures and the Libris family—specifically, mega-collector Xaviera—feeling aggrieved.

MOTIVE.

Maybe familiarity bred contempt and in this case MURDER !!!

As the tale unwinds…!

Good ! Sam is in on the case .

I gotta say, I don’t know everyone my grandparents were in business with

I wonder if we will ever find out what was bothering Tracy about that first crime scene.

Just one , that’s all it will take , just one Sam Slam or stupid remark about Pastrami sammiches and you will feel the sting of my lash .

Lee slept in today and didn’t make the meeting.

AND: wasn’t “chum” what they were all throwing in the water trying to lure "He Who Would Soon Become Known As ‘BRUCE’ in JAWS?………

Those are some funky knuckles Dick has in p1…

Wow, this threw me off. Perhaps Caxton and Libris jointly owned some books as part of the company’s holdings as young men? The Libris insignia would then have been put on the book then. Many years later, the two men had a falling out. Caxton kept possession of the 1290 prayer book, because it fascinated his then-young granddaughter Wilhemina. I know, this is even a wilder theory than the last one…

@Gweedo – I am in the dark as well……….

What’s with the “chum”, are we going phishing here?

at this point, i’m betting, it’s not her

MOVIE QUOTE

“What,no Mickey Mouse?”

James Cagney(about to be fired as a theatre usher)

LADY KILLER—1933

1-DT: Lookee what I discovered…

2-…Now I need you two to tell me…

3-…why it’s important. SAM: I bet Lee would know! LIZ: Uhhh, yeah. Let’s give it to Lee!

Lizz and Sam look like elementary school kids listening to the teacher

Criminals always think that because “so much time has passed”, that nobody knows nuthin’

Actually,the info is there for anybody who cares to look.Cancel rich lady’s passport

Consider this: in the October 2nd strip, Caxton’s lawyer noted that the missing manuscript has not been displayed publicly since it was purchased. We now know (November 9th) from Mason & Woods, the auction house that sold the manuscript, that that was in 1919, over a century ago. Caxton’s lawyer also indicated the manuscript is not “described in the literature,” that is, it’s not been talked about in scholarly analyses. Information about the manuscript would thus be obscure. We know from the September 17th strip (as omniscient readers, though the MCU doesn’t know this) that the killer of Ms. Caxton knew of the manuscript that had belonged to Caxton’s grandfather. Certainly, outside of the missing diary, the MCU does know that the manuscript was the only thing stolen from Ms. Caxton, indicating the manuscript was likely a target of the killer. If the manuscript was not described in the literature, and had not been displayed publicly since 1919, how would the killer have known of the manuscript, and where it might be? The more so, since the gossip-column item from The Daily in 1919 doesn’t (in the portion we see) specifically identify the manuscript…

Ms.Libris has Daffy Duck Disease

“It’s mine,do you understand? Mine,Mine,MineOut,out out!!

I realized today that I was wrong to think that it would be difficult for MCU to link Libris’ nameplate to the book stolen from the out-of-state cold case. It seems to me that in that plastic bag that Backroom Guy gave Lee (besides the nameplate) there were some pictures he took of the book. Once the book was known, the owner could be traced. That appears to be strong circumstantial evidence that Libris was in possession of an item stolen from a dead man. Time for a subpoena!

Now, the out-of-state case was 7 months ago and Libris turned up at the repair store with the book 6 months ago. I guess she could claim the book came into her possession during that month without knowledge of where it came from. Except…the true provenance of the book is known, thanks to Backroom Guy saving the evidence! All they need to do is have him testify…uh oh!