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A Taste of Wine & Murder

Murder Mystery #2  (7/5/03)

Barry Underwood has been gone for several years, but only recently did we find out that he was murdered and left to decompose under the floorboards of the Underwood Wine Estates. I suppose with the constant wine leakage, his body didn't really decompose as it would have normally. that helped in piecing together the puzzle of his death.

Let's have a look at the suspects.

Mr. Ralph Rottingrape

Ralph is presently the manager of Underwood Wine Estates.  Since the disappearance of Barry Underwood several years ago, Ralph has been managing the business. He and his wife, Tiny Bubbles, have some big expansion plans for the Estates.

Ralph only moved to the area about 6 years ago, but it looks like he has done pretty well for himself.

Although he has a great job with the Estates, he is considered a suspect in the murder of Barry, his 1st cousin.  He certainly looks like a shady character to me. He's a real hot head and rides his bike all over the Estates.  Although he gives out the wine freely to the workers, he has a suspicious character about him.  He flies off the handle for no apparent reason. This picture is evidence of that.

Tiny Bubbles

This is Tiny Bubbles, the wife of Ralph Rottingrape. She really dosn't like his last name, but I guess that didn't make any difference when she married him.  She just kept her maiden name. She has taken care of the sales and financial end of things since Barry disappeared while Ralph looks after the operation of things. The 2 seem to make a god team.  She was engaged to Barry before he disappeared, however.

Tiny is a perky little lady who really gets things done. Her energy seems to have no end.

But, there are things that make her a suspect in the case. Her looks can be deceiving, you know. After all, she may have wanted to stop the marriage to Barry so she could marry Ralph.  This picture is one of her publicity pictures.

Papa Vito

This is Papa.  He's the old geezer of the workers on the Underwood Wine Estates. He has worked in the vineyards all his life.  He started working at Underwood in 1937 and has worked for 3 generatioins of Underwoods. In this picture he loks pretty young for his age - and innocent too.  But little did he know that he was going to be caught up in the disappearance of Barry Underwood, his 3rd boss at Underwood.

Papa is a hard worker and will do anything for his present boss, Ralph Rottingrape. He would like to finaly retire back in Italy with his family that he hasn't seen in 60 years.

Althgouth he sure looks innocent in this picture, he carries as much of a load as they all do because he is a suspect in this case. It could be that he'll never se Italy again.

Hedy Shablee

Miss Hedy owns the Shablee Vineyards, close by to the Underwood Estates. She has worked hard to make a go of it, as the land was really bad when she bought it from Barry 10 years ago.

She says that she liked the competition when Barry was alive.  In fact, she has a new wine that she been working on that she will be puttin on the market very shortly.

In this picture, Hedy is trying to look real innocent, but we all know that she could be as guilty as any of us.  She's really trying to get on our god side here

But her wine is really good!

Mr. Otto Von Schnapps

Mr. Von Schnapps travels the world quite a bit loking for the best wines in the world for his employer, Rhine Wines, who sells them all over Europe. He likes hte wine here and has been coming back to the Underwood Estates every year.

He met Barry when he first came here, but it is rumored that the 2 of them argued quite a bit.

He is kind of a hot head and will do anything to shift the blame to another. For some reason, he wanted to get out of the country as soon as he could. But, alas, he had to wait until we found out who was the guilty party - or if we found that he was the guilty one.

Marilyn Merlot

Miss Marilyn Merlot has been in Hollywood for the past 5 years, having left the same year that Barry disappeared. But, of course, she "had nothing to do with it", she says. She even won a beauty pageant the same year.

Miss Merlot has been in the movies for the past 5 years and is up for an Academy Award at the present time.

The fact that Miss Merlot went to Hollywood at the same time that Bary disappeared seems a little suspicious to me.  But underneath that great smile lies a person that is under suspicion by all of us who were there.

page updated Wednesday, October 26, 2011