Ice Storm story
When Sheila Parnell is phoned by her employer and warned that one of the three experts who are arriving to view his collection of valuable old manuscripts has been replaced by a thief, she is worried... and when the call is interrupted and she receives news that her employer has been found dead, she is terrified. But the road is snowed in by a blizzard, and the murderer has cut the phone line, so apart from the curmudgeonly driver who does not believe her story, she has no-one to rely on but herself, as she tries to listen to the three experts talk and find out which one of them could be the murderer. Directed by: Alan Gibson. Story by: N.J. Crisp, based on the short story by Jerome Barry.
6 total · 1 choice · 3 major · 2 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| what if I were in a tight spot | choice | Sheila was tasked by her employer, Barrington, with showing his famed collection of old manuscripts to three visiting scholars. She found herself in a predicament when Barrington informed her that one of the three was actually a thief intent on stealing the collection. Matters were complicated by the fact that the house was snowed in for the night, and the only other person present was a driver who was reluctant to take her story seriously. In the end, Sheila used her wits to expose the impostor. |
| literature appreciation | major | Three supposed scholars conversed about literature and the arts as they waited to view Barrington's famed collection of old manuscripts. In the end, Sheila exposed a criminal posing as Beecham, a literature professor, as a fraud after he delivered a couple of slightly inaccurate quotations from Shakespeare. |
| murder | major | The Beecham impostor shot Barrington dead in cold blood and made it look like a suicide. |
| theft | major | A criminal posing as Beecham, a literature professor of some renown, murdered the collector Barrington and plotted to steal his famed collection of old manuscripts at gunpoint. |
| master and servant | minor | Sheila bossed the Barrington's driver around. |
| suicide | minor | The Beecham impostor shot Barrington dead in cold blood and made it look like a suicide. |