Meg Chittenden's "The Frog that Croaked in the Night"

The latest EQMM contains a story by Meg Chittenden called "The Frog that Croaked in the Night." It's about a man and a frog, a ceramic frog with a motion detector that croaks whever anyone passes in front of it. Or when the wind blows. I suppose it would be like one of those talking, mounted fish that sings "Don't Worry, Be Happy." Anyway. The man Orville Lubbock, hates the frog and the frog's owner, Kristina von Winter (whom he also seems to lust for - an entanglement of Eros and Thanatos that would have made Freud giddy). Oh, and he hates her boyfriend who seems to have everything that Orville lacks (including Kristina). Anyway, as the tension rises towards the end of the story, the question becomes, "Who will kill who?" Somebody does die. Is it the frog? Is it the boyfriend? Pick up a copy and figure it out.

Orville, the POV character, is a real human by the end. A good story, well told and with a nice twist on the last page.