In The Jinx #5 for February 1935 there appeared two methods for performing an effect popularly labeled The Lie Detective. A spectator would read through a genuinely shuffled deck, lying at any time instead of calling the card correctly, whereupon the performer, at a distance and with back turn, would wax furious at such deception.

Mr Christ approached me later with what he considers a better presentation and climax in the eyes of the audience. I quite agree that this present effect will hold attention to the finish whereas in the former case (it’s still a good one) there was an anti-climax in all lies after the first. Moreover, in the version at hand, there is much less preparation. A card is selected, noted, and returned to the pack which is given a shuffle. The spectator takes the deck and gives it several cuts while the performer turns his back. He instructs the person to deal the cards from the face down pack into a face up pile, calling their names as they appear. But when the selected pasteboard shows up, the spectator is to lie. In other words, for once he is to disregard the truth, and instead of calling a spade a spade or suitwise, he is to call that particular card by another name. The performer, secure in his great knowledge of lying, announces that he will be able to detect a false note in the voice and stop the proceeding at such a point.

So it goes. And an audience believes it, provided the performer presents it with sincerity. Everything depends upon a key or locator card. Personally I break the very corner of a card if using a borrowed deck and use it as a short. If I have my own deck the short card is already there. Have it on the bottom when starting. A card is chosen from the fan. Undercut about half the deck, have the card replaced on the top half and drop the bottom half on top of this. Now cut the deck just under the replaced card, overhand shuffle a little over half of the deck and then drop the rest behind the cards shuffled off. Give the deck to the spectator and tell them to cut it a couple of times. As the key card is above the selected card, the performer hears it when it is called and knows the ‘lie’ is on the following call.

A second method is with the use of League Back Bicycle Cards. The wing reverse in the center of the back can be seen at a distance of twenty feet with no effort at all. The deck is reversed for the return of the card and the spectator may overhand shuffle to his heart’s content. He is told to hold the deck face down and pick up the cards one at a time, look at them, and call out their names. Then the card is placed on the table, or on the back of the deck. In this case, the performer faces the spectator and knows the instant the selected card is held up.

Patter possibilities are unlimited. At the moment it comes to mind that because of the publicity concerning Bruno Hauptman and his possible subjection to the mechanical lie detector, this might be injected into the patter and prove of interest, as well as heightening the effect.