Situational Irony In Josh Pachter's Invitation To Murder

“Invitation to Murder” Situational Irony Essay “Invitation to Murder” is a short story filled with suspense and mystery written by Josh Pachter. The setting is in New York during modern times. Branigan, an investigator, had a strange letter sent to him under the name of Eleanor Abbott. The invitation was fancy with the color of black rimmed around the edges. It had an address, time, and specific day printed on it. The most inexplicable part of the letter stated “Impending murder of her husband, Gregory Abbott”. He read the letter twice, very thoroughly and decided this invitation had piqued his interest. As the story progresses, readers can see the situational irony in this novella. The title itself was situational irony since it was an actual invitation to murder. Mrs. Abbott had sent out twelve invitations to famous investigators, judges, detectives, and private eyes. When Branigan arrived to the given address, he was guided to a dim room and recognized all of the other men in it. There was Ryan, from the Los Angeles Police Department, DiNapoli from San …show more content…
Branigan could not figure out how she was going to kill Mr. Abbott- so how could she possibly think that these men, who stood by the law, was going to kill him? Mrs. Abbott was happy with Mr. Abbott until one day he was injured during a skiing trip. The injury did severe damage to his body and he could no longer take care of himself. She spoke of a medication- pills that was necessary for Gregory to live. It was a powerful drug, so powerful that it would kill a person with a normal beating heart. Mrs. Abbott stood up exactly three times from her seat, but Branigan and Coszyck firmly grasped on her shoulders. It had finally turned eleven o’clock and the men in the room tensed. They did not let Mrs. Abbott near her husband, so it would mean none of them committed murder- or so, they