One Plus One Plus One

By Johann Wentzel

Reworked and republished April 2026

In the shadow of the River Foyle, nothing truly disappears.

In Book I, A Pair of Two's, private investigator Patrick O'Neill is drawn into a deadly poker hand when a missing girl, a murdered pool-hall owner, and a mysterious sequence of perfumed playing cards turn Derry's underworld into a game of survival.

In Book II, Blame the Rain, detective sergeant Tom McBride investigates the death of seventeen-year-old Dinah Quigg, whose body is recovered from the River Foyle after days of relentless rain. What begins as murder becomes a devastating tragedy of panic, secrecy, and moral consequence.

In Book III, ini mini mino mo, retirement drives Tom beyond the law and into the mind of JC Sharp, a killer who turns chess into ritual and justice into obsession.

Atmospheric, morally complex, and steeped in the landscapes of Northern Ireland, One Plus One Plus One is a linked literary crime collection where every clue returns like the tide.

A light-hearted Read-and-Complete 3-in-1 short story in less than 10 000 words.(Think of it as an adult colouring exercise for the idle mind.) It started during one of those boring never-ending commuting journeys shared with my publishing agent and lifelong friend Jan. Jan suggested an easy on-the-go detective piece to kill start-stop commuting time. Maybe a bit of light-hearted investigative silliness that one could start and then put down with your train timetable and front door key just to be picked up again tomorrow morning. A who-done-it story or stories that I would begin in some detail and then allow it to fizzle out, never to finish, with only a vague catch-all author's synopsis.It sounded tempting; my publisher bought the idea and advanced Thirty Thousand Pounds. Not that I was in need of the money, of course not. The only stipulation - it had to be less than 10 000 words.
Story 1: A Pair of Two's."The man with No Mission: a Private Investigator more interested in playing poker that solving cases."
Story 2: Blame the Rain."She was the one reminding her husband to tell Tom McBride of the telephone call on the night of the murder that only said "It was the Rain".
Story 3: ini mini mino mo."Catch a serial killer by his toe."Signed: Detective Sergeant JC Sharp. (alias Tom McBride)30/11/2015

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1519490267
• ISBN13: 9781519490261
• Release Date: November 2015
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 72 Pages
• Weight: 0.19 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.0" x 8.0"