Day 1: Mustache

"If you must have a mustache, let it be a real mustache – a thing of beauty such as mine.”
- Hercule Poirot

Hercule Poirot is one of Agatha Christie's most famous and long-lived characters, appearing in 33 novels and 51 short stories published between 1920 and 1975 and set in the same era.

A world-renowned Belgian detective celebrated for his unparalleled intelligence and understanding of the criminal mind, the diminutive detective is known for his distinctive egg-shaped head and meticulous appearance. However, his most famous attribute is his magnificent and impeccably groomed mustasche, a trademark as legendary as his deductive genius.

What's your favorite Poirot mystery?

Day 2: Weave

"Relax, Officer! It's a weave not a body."

If you missed it, Police were called in Ohio after a hair weave was mistaken for a body hanging out of a Kia's trunk.

In forensics, trace evidence like hairs, even from a weave, can be vital. Following the Locard Exchange Principle, hair transfer links a suspect to a victim or crime scene. Shows like The New Detectives episode "Hairs and Fibers" illustrate how comparison microscopes are used to analyze hair structure (color, cortex, medulla) to establish if samples are microscopically consistent, either excluding a suspect or providing strong associative evidence.

What's your favorite forensics show?

Day 3: Crown

"Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown
And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,
Thence to be wrenched with an unlineal hand,
No son of mine succeeding."
- Macbeth

In the "The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet," Banker Alexander Holder has his reputation and career put on the line when a priceless, jewel-encrusted Beryl Coronet is entrusted to his care. When the crown is discovered damaged with three jewels missing, all evidence points to his own son, Arthur, who is caught holding the coronet. Faced with personal ruin and a national scandal, a desperate Holder seeks Sherlock Holmes' aid to prove his son innocent and recover the stolen gems.

How would you solve this case?

Day 4: Murky

"In the murky depths, the water doesn't just hide the body; it holds the last, silent scream."

On the shore of Lake Superior, a man named Rodion Oleshev is found shot dead. Though nobody knows why, everyone (local police, the FBI, and the Russians) has a theory. In John Sandford's Hidden Prey, this discovery pulls investigator Lucas Davenport into a deadly game. The body is of a former KGB agent, awakening a hidden network of Soviet sleeper spies. As the spies eliminate anyone who might expose their Cold War secrets, Davenport must race to stop them.

Which of John Sandford's Prey series thrillers is your favorite?

Day 5: Deer

"For the hunters who harm the innocent, the Deer Woman is the final, vengeful predator."

In various Indigenous American mythologies, the Deer Woman is a spirit whose nature shifts depending on the situation, but she is generally known as a vengeful and murderous entity towards men who have harmed women and children, often luring them to their deaths. She appears as either a beautiful young woman with deer feet or as a deer. This chilling legend serves as the backdrop for Laurie L. Dove's fictional crime novel, Mask of the Deer Woman.

Do you enjoy crime novels that incorporate elements of mythology or folklore into the mystery?