SOLVE THIS MYSTERY!

WHERE’S WALDO? CASE 23-001, PART 1

WARNING: My mini-mystery games are both educational and entertaining. They are mostly based on actual lost pet recovery investigations that either I worked, my students worked, or other search dog handlers worked with their search dogs. While I will never show extremely graphic photos, I will be very descriptive in my writing. The content of some of my cases may be upsetting, especially if you’ve experienced the loss of a pet or are easily triggered by death. If you want to compare my mini mysteries to standard mystery writing, my cases are more “police procedural” or “true crime” and only sometimes could they be considered “cozies.” In many cases, these stories have either sad endings or no closure because, frankly, that is often the nature of lost pet recovery. In many cases, lost pets are just never found.

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WHERE’S WALDO? CASE 23-001, PART 1

CAN YOU SEE the missing pet that’s hiding in this tree?

Photo of the lost mystery pet hidden up in this tree. Can you see him?

This photo is from a case that I worked my bloodhound Zeke on back in October 2009. This pet had escaped three days before I responded. All evidence (previous behaviors of this particular pet, an eyewitness who saw the pet, and the work of my bloodhound) pointed to him being up this tree.

Can you guess what species is missing? And can you tell us (or indicate by circling the area and posting that photo in the comments) where in the photograph he’s located? The second person who answers this correctly will be deemed the WINNER of this mystery game. I will announce the winner and a full explanation of the story in PART 2 to be released next Wednesday (Nov 8, 2023).

Oh, and there is a major clue somewhere in Substack for this “Where’s Waldo” case that might help you come up with the correct answer. The clue is buried in the comment section of the wonderful Substack

Holly Starley's Rolling Desk

where I rambled on (purposely—it wasn’t really my sleeping medications that kicked in) in my comment where I planted the clue. As a side note, Holly lives in her van, travels across the states, and writes beautiful stories in her Substack—check her out!

In addition to clues, from time to time I will instruct a subscriber friend to plant a red herring in the comments section. If you don’t know what a “red herring” is, then just keep believing everything that I write and believe all of the comments that you read, because mystery writer’s would never, ever, ever mislead you or try and throw you off the track of the correct answer. HA!

This is going to be FUN!