We know many people who aren't mystery buffs are not there for more than a good time.

As a child, she found Arthur Conan Doyle's tales of Sherlock Holmes in the family library, and enjoyed them, but did not become a mystery buff then.

It placed ads in book reviews, in People magazine, in law enforcement journals and in a magazine for mystery buffs.

"Ah, a mystery buff, are you?"

Between 56th and 57th, mystery buffs can hope for a first edition of, say, "Trent's Last Case."

Ms. Hickson is giving a performance to be savored by mystery buffs and just about everybody else.

She was a mystery buff, though she couldn't remember ever reading this particular book.

"I was always a big mystery buff and Agatha Christie fan," said Mrs. Mangelsdorf, 36, a PepsiCo marketing executive, who is pregnant with the couple's second child.

As the defense took over Saturday afternoon the who, what, when and how come of The Case of the Alleged Victim seemed as tangled as any mystery buff could desire.

She soon learned that mystery buffs are natural deconstructionists.