"I do believe in coincidences, surely," said Mrs. Meade, "but when they coincide with perfect alibis and impossible thefts I tend to doubt them." When the Wellmans receive a letter from their son's boarding-school informing them that Allen has been accused of stealing from a classmate, they promptly head for Denver to investigate. The situation looks bad, since almost the whole rest of the school have perfect alibis. It's fortunate that Mrs. Wellman thought to bring along her friend Mrs. Meade to see if she can spot the solution... This stand-alone short story can be enjoyed in any order with the rest of the Mrs. Meade Mysteries, but does feature characters introduced in Book 5, The American Pony.

Elisabeth Grace Foley (that's Elisabeth with an s) is the author of numerous works of historical fiction and historical mystery set mostly in the American West. She is a three-time Peacemaker Award finalist, winning the award in 2025 with her short story "Valiant-For-Truth," and her historical mystery novel Land of Hills and Valleys was voted one of Readfree.ly's 50 Best Indie Books of 2021. When not reading or writing, she enjoys gardening, crocheting, digging further into her family tree, cheering for underdog European football teams, and watching old movies. Visit her online at www.elisabethgracefoley.com and http://secondsentence.substack.com.