Weekly Short Story: Fatal Error by Fredric Brown

Frederic Brown (1906-72) was one of my all-time favorite short story writers, whose works ranged from science fiction to mystery to social commentary.  A few years I purchased From These Ashes (NESFA Press), which is a collection of all of this author's short science fiction.  Although technically more a crime story than science fiction, his very short 1961 tale Fatal Error is in it.  Fatal Error reminds me of the Peter Falk mystery TV series Columbo, where each week a very intelligent person devises what he or she thinks is a foolproof murder...but of course Columbo always figures it out in the end.  There's no Columbo in Brown's story, but the intricate plotting on the part of the protagonist is there.  Walter Baxter knows he is the only heir to his rich uncle's fortunes, so he works out a plan to kill him while making it look like the unfortunate by-product of a burglary.  He assiduously goes about implementing his plans, and when it is all over he commends himself on a job well done.  Only one problem: he is quickly arrested anyway.  What happened? The answer is hilarious, a testament to what happens when someone gets so caught up in details that they lose sight of the big picture.  I don't think this story is available on the Internet, but if you can get hold of it I recommend you take the few minutes seconds needed to read it.  It's a hoot...