Triply Unique is a mystery short story by Isaac Asimov.
Part of the Union Club series, it was first published in the July 1984 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.
Summary[]
At the Union Club, a conversation about the difficulty of identifying a corpse prompts Griswold to recount a case from a rural county. A torso with its head and hands removed was discovered on Noll's Hill after Independence Day. The local police lieutenant consulted Griswold because the only leads were two strangers seen arguing in a bar before heading toward the hill. The victim was presumed to be one of them, but the mutilation made identification seemingly impossible.
The bartender recalled the first stranger making a specific statement: he said he had the same name as someone "on the list" and that this person was "triply unique." Griswold deduced that "the list" referred to the signers of the Declaration of Independence, as it was Independence Day and the stranger had been seen with a newspaper, which often print facsimiles of the document on that date.
Griswold identified the "triply unique" signer as Charles Carroll of Carrollton. His reasoning was that Carroll was the only signer to add his estate's name "of Carrollton" to his signature, he was the only Roman Catholic signer, and he was the last surviving signer, living until 1832. Griswold concluded the murder victim's name was Charles Carroll. This identification provided the police with a specific person to search for among missing persons reports, which led to the case being solved.
Characters[]
- Griswold
- Club Member (the narrator)
- Baranov
- Jennings
- County Lieutenant of Police
- Bartender
- First Stranger
- Second Stranger
- Young Man
Historical Figures Mentioned[]
- Charles Carroll of Carrollton
- George III
- Signers of the Declaration of Independence
See Also[]
List of short stories by Isaac Asimov