A note to readers

I hope the convention is better than Boucher’s reviews. For those of Mr. Talton’s readers not in the know, for some years, many decades ago, Anthony Boucher was the mystery genre reviewer for the New York Times.
Having a taste for “Golden Age” mysteries, I’ve read a number of his reviews (or review blurbs) on end sheets and back covers. He had a knack for making the most ghastly rubbish sound plausible and intriguing. I even went so far as to look up one of his own novels once, “Rocket to the Morgue”. It was mildly amusing, but other than that I can’t remember anything about it.
Passing on to other matters, my advice to Mr. Talton, whether he has booked a roomette, standard, or deluxe on his sleeper-car, is to beware of charming strangers: they invariably propose an exchange of murders — and you know how that sort of thing works out.
Also, try to avoid holding luggage for fellow passengers, even (or especially) if they are attractive women. More often than not, the excuses given are specious, and the luggage actually contains contraband: whether drugs, priceless stolen artifacts or jewels, or explosives, will of course depend upon the woman.
If your fellow passengers include a man with a high, domed forehead, whose head sways from side to side like that of a snake — whether or not he can be observed scribbling calculations of higher mathematics on paper napkins, or editing a manuscript entitled The Dynamics of an Asteroid — I should give him a wide berth. The same may be said for his companion, a military type said to be fond of cards.
Finally, if the conductor announces “Next stop, Willoughby!” be sure to disembark there regardless of your intended destination — unless this stop happens to be located in Lake County, Ohio, in which case I’d give it a miss unless you’re in the market for plumbing fixtures.