She is an old, grey-haired woman. She wears a shawl over her shoulders but you can see that she is well-groomed and has money." Furthermore, we figure out that Mildred is the ill-fated victim through her words, "Why would he do that to me?" It can be said that Mildred Mullaney is a perfect target for a criminal to take advantage of her vulnerability and substantial wealth. .
There is always a puzzling crime in a crime fiction, and "The Mystery of Roger Mullaney" absolutely has conformed to this. The seemingly unsolvable crime in the play surrounds the mystery of the disappearance of Roger Mullaney. It sets things in motion and throws the story down a path to finding out what happened. This mystery is best illustrated through the words of Skelton, who explains that "25 years ago, Roger Mullaney disappeared and nobody to this day knows where he is or what happened to him." Furthermore, the inclusion of a red herring has made the crime appear more complicated. Skelton's gang claims to have all had relationships with the mysterious Roger Mullaney, but the fact that their stories are all different only adds depth to the mystery. Even when the case is solved, an element of mystery still remains though Timothy and Imogen's words, "I'd like to be able to tie up all the loose ends. There is one or two mysteries still not solved." It is fair to say that a puzzling crime lies at the heart of the play keeping the reader interested in its mystery.
Like Benjamin Skelton in "The Mystery of Roger Mullaney," crime fiction could not exist without a perpetrator or criminal character. Skelton's cruel, brutal and inhuman characteristics are shown through his dialogue "Quist, effective, fast. An old trick I learned in Long Bay. Bodies in the boot of the car, no worries." The playwright also reveals that he was a "bad egg." This metaphor is most powerful in revealing that Skelton's character has a shady past.
