By Sally Carpenter

My current writing project is putting my first novel, “The Baffled Beatlemaniac Caper,” back in print. Before I send the file to my publisher, I’m editing it for corrections and style. I haven’t read the book since it was published in 2011 and I had forgotten some things about my character, such as the fact he has a scar on his cheek that disappeared in the later books!

Being a little more experienced than where I was ten years go when I started writing mysteries, I’m more aware of clunky writing such as “He called the desk clerk on the room phone.” I changed it to “He phoned the desk clerk.” The story is set in 1993, so the protagonist had to use the hotel phone–cellphones were not yet commonplace.

The story takes place at a Beatles fan convention in which a member of the tribute band has been shot. The setting brings to mind the infamous “Paul McCartney is dead” hoax that has bewildered and amused fans for years. Like a detective story, various “clues” were uncovered that seem to prove the story.

On October 12, 1969, Russ Gibb, a DJ for radio station WKNR-FM, received a disturbing phone call from a caller who claimed if he listened to certain Beatles songs, he would hear proof that Paul McCartney was dead.

Shortly thereafter, Alex Bennett of WMCA-AM in New York told listeners of his radio show that the Beatles themselves had left “clues” pointing to the cute one’s demise.

Apparently Paul had stormed out of Abbey Road studios after an argument with the other Fabs and was decapitated in an auto accident on his way home. Apple Corps covered up the death to keep record sales alive. The missing bassist been replaced by a man named either William Campbell or Billy Shears, who had plastic surgery to resemble Paul. The band stopped touring so people wouldn’t notice the substitution.

In fact, Paul was involved in a car crash on November 9, 1966 while driving home after an all-night recording session, but he survived with minor injuries. In 1993 he poked fun at the hoax with an album named “Paul is Live.”

But the various “death clues” seem conclusive. On the “Sgt. Pepper’s” album cover, a funeral arrangement of flowers forms the shape of a left-handed bass, Paul’s instrument. The small statue in front center is an East Indian goddess, a symbol of rebirth.

Paul holds a black (the color of death) clarinet while the others have gold instruments.

A man has his hand raised over Paul’s head, a sign of blessing.

On the back of the “Sgt. Pepper’s” cover, Paul has his back to the camera while the other three face forward. George is pointing up at a song lyric that reads, “Wednesday morning at five o’clock,” the time of Paul’s death. The back cover is red, the color of blood.

The patch on Paul’s left sleeve says “OPD” (officially pronounced dead). Paul claimed the patch really meant “Ontario Police Department” and was an item he just picked up in a costume shop.

On the “Abbey Road” album cover, Paul is out of step with the other three Beatles and holds a cigarette, which is often called a “coffin nail.” He is barefoot, a sign of death. He wears burial clothes. John is dressed in white as an angel, Ringo wears an undertaker’s suit, and George is in gravedigger’s clothes.

The white VW to the left of the cover has a license plate “28 IF.” If Paul had survived the crash, he would have been 28 years old.

On the back of the “Abbey Road” cover, the word “Beatles” is painted on a wall. A crack runs through the word, a sign that the group has split apart.

The song “Come Together” says “one and one and one are three”—only three Beatles are left. “Come together over me” refers to the survivors gathered around Paul’s burial plot.

In the fadeout of “Strawberry Fields,” John seems to say, “I buried Paul.” But John has always claimed that he actually said “cranberry sauce.”

The sound montage of “Revolution No. 9” from “The Beatles” (White Album) has the sounds of a squealing tires, a fire, and a man saying “Get me out!” as if Paul were trying to escape from a burning car. A voice says “number nine” repeatedly which, if played backwards on an old-fashioned record player, sounds like “turn me on, dead men.”

The original “White Album” vinyl records included a photo poster. Paul’s headshot shows a scar above his lip—the result of plastic surgery on his replacement. (In reality, Paul injured his lip in the auto accident). Other photos on the poster show Paul’s apparently separated head floating in a bathtub and white ghost hands reaching out to grab him.

The amateur sleuth in my book discovers some interesting Beatle-ly clues as he tries to clear his name and find the killer. I’m having fun solving the crime with my hero again.