Get a Clue

Summer evening in South Florida and the setting sun beats down like the last angry glare in a dying man's eyes. But this wasn't any summer's eve, nor was this any angry glare -- there was a mystery to be solved. You could feel it in the air, thick as it was with tension, like the stifling silence at a circus as the tightrope walker teeters on the brink of doom.

Besides, the streets are as thick with gumshoes as a picnic is with ants. Everyone wants in on this. The Big Score. The Whole Enchilada. The Spare Ribs withthe Barbecue Sauce. Whoever cracks this case open like a rotten egg goes down in history. The cops would be coming to them for advice on cases instead of showing up at the door to shake a fellow down for a few bucks. Yeah. Whoever solves this case will have a career as a private dick that, like a long and pointless metaphor, continues on and on, into the dark and stormy night....

For all those amateur sleuths out there who dream of roaming through foggy streets and solving crimes using nothing but their wits and the scraps of clues that can be found, here is your big chance to prove yourself. The seventh annual ClueLess on Las Olas takes place Thursday, April 25. Beginning at 7 p.m., participants roam Fort Lauderdale's highest-end boulevard, past classy galleries and classier boutiques, picking up clues in an effort to solve this year's mystery. And while everyone who participates in the hunt is a winner, as they receive gift bags full of goodies and the warm, fuzzy feeling that comes with knowing you have helped Partners in Education, the individual who first solves the mystery gets two tickets from Southwest Airlines for any destination in the United States.

Once all the snooping is over and the guilty parties have been caught and summarily executed (OK, we made up that last bit), a party with entertainment provided by Mango's Restaurant offers a chance for all the participants to give one another a pat on the back and talk about the latest advances in magnifying glasses, trench coats, and sullen, Bogartesque gazes. Prizes in the party's silent auction include airline and movie tickets, signed sports items, dinner packages, and great gifts from all those stores passed by on the way to solving this year's riddle. Sounds like the sort of event you'll regret missing -- maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life.