Half a Ghost, also known as A Ghost of a Chance, is a mystery short story by Isaac Asimov.
Part of the Union Club series, it was first published in the December 1982 issue of Gallery magazine. Later collected in The Union Club Mysteries.
Summary[]
At the Union Club, a debate about drug enforcement leads Griswold to recount a case from twenty years prior. A police lieutenant was on the verge of a major breakthrough against a city drug ring but was stuck. His investigation pointed to a key informant known only by the nickname "Half a Ghost," who was believed to be a member of a street gang called the Black Belts. The police had a list of the first names of the ten gang members but could not determine which one was Half a Ghost, as none of the names had an obvious connection to ghosts.
The lieutenant needed to identify the man quickly and quietly to avoid alerting the gang. He turned to Griswold for help. Griswold learned from the lieutenant that only one of the ten gang members had any significant education, having attended city college for two years. Griswold then examined the list of names: Alex, Barney, Dwayne, Gregory, Jimmy, Joshua, Lester, Norton, Roy, and Simon.
He deduced that the nickname was an educated pun. The word "spectrum," which is Latin for "apparition" or "ghost," is the scientific term for the band of colors in a rainbow. A common mnemonic for the order of colors in the spectrum is the sentence "Read Out Your Good Book In Verse," representing Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. The first three letters of this sequence are R, O, Y. Griswold concluded that "ROY" represented the first half of the "ghost," or spectrum. The only gang member with the education to make this pun and whose name was Roy was therefore Half a Ghost. The police acted on this information and successfully made a major arrest.
Characters[]
- Griswold
- Club Member (the narrator)
- Baranov
- Jennings
- The Police Lieutenant
Black Belts Gang[]
- Roy "Half a Ghost"
- Alex
- Barney
- Dwayne
- Gregory
- Jimmy
- Joshua
- Lester
- Norton
- Simon
Historical Figures Mentioned[]
- Isaac Newton
See Also[]
List of short stories by Isaac Asimov