The Purloined Letter

This reminided me of a Sherlock Holmes tale just a bit. This because of the reasoning Dupin used in finding the letter. It was simple and yet complex. He reasoned that the Minister would know that the police would search his premises and search thoroughly but would not look at what was right in front of them. "Think like your enemy" is the main thought here. A wise thought in many circumstances. Vito says to Michael "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer." This is not just a statement of physical location (so you can keep an eye on them) but one of a mental sense as well. So while the Minister thought like the police, Dupin thought like the Minister. His explanation of this to our unnamed narrator may have been a bit complicated but that is what he is saying and eventually did say. I also found this story had some humor in it. I had to smile at the way he descibes what can sometimes be hidden in plain sight. For his point he mentions a game in which one person chooses a word on a map for another to find. He says that sometimes the harder word to find is one which stretches across the whole map. As a last thought, I'll be interested in seeing if I can get translations for all the French used. Anyone know French?