DH Reddall's Red Shift

Thought I should mention DH Reddall's story in the current Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. It seemed to me that the PI was a little flat as a character, but that may be because there are, apparently, many stories in the series. The victim seemed like a fuller, more vital character. That's not a bad thing. Not every story needs to focus on the inner workings of the detective though that is convenient for the writer sometimes. The victim should come to life and so he does here.

What I thought was even more interesting however were the two attempts on the victim's life. He was a local artist/crumudgeon. The first attempt was with a cream pie. In fact, once it's fully explained, I thought this attempt actually sounded more deadly than the actual mode of murder. I had never thought of a cream pie as a murder weapon, so my hat's off to DH Reddall for introducing what I thin is a rather novel method for causing mischief.

A well plotted story with what I thought was a neat twist.