The purse of a newspaper columnist’s wife is snatched and then its contents mysteriously returned—sans purse.

Again we’re presented with a very strange and tenuous chain of reasoning. The idea is that someone needed an old, battered purse in which to hide a bomb but didn’t want to buy one because it might be traced to them somehow. And so why risk being caught for purse-snatching? Why attract attention (and possible capture) by going to considerable lengths to return the purse’s contents?

The story does begin with a lengthy examination of terrorism from the perspective of the people who feel themselves forced to resort to it, and that discussion is stimulating. Otherwise, however, the story is pretty much a loss.

Found In

	Puzzles of the Black Widowers